Last August our son found a large caterpillar on a tree in his yard. He knows how I have always enjoyed "hatching" things, so he brought it to me and we put it in a small aquarium. We were mistaken and thought we had a luna moth caterpillar. I was surprised this past Sunday when I walked around the car in the garage and there it was in the window.......not a Luna Moth but a Polyphemus Moth!
Here's a description from wikipedia:
The Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) is a North American member of the family Saturniidae, the giant silk moths. It is a tan colored moth, with an average wingspan of 15 cm (6 inches). The most notable feature of the moth is its large, purplish eyespots on its two hindwings. The eye spots are where it gets its name – from the Greek myth of the Cyclops Polyphemus. The caterpillar of the Polyphemus Moth can eat 86,000 times its weight at emergence in a little less than two months. It is widespread throughout much of North America, from southern Canada to parts of Mexico.
We brought it in and put it on the inside of the screen door, took lots of pics and turned him loose just before dark.
