created 2025-02-17, & modified, =this.modified
rel: Butterfly Wings
Luna, Polyphemus, Atlas, Promethea and other large moth do not eat.
They have no instinct to eat. They have no functional mouths.
“Moths, like butterflies, also produce more eggs if they get more nitrogen. For the Trisyntopa neossophila moth in Australia though, the adults do not eat. So these moths must get all their nitrogen resources while they are caterpillars”
Since the mouthparts of adult saturniids are vestigial and digestive tracts are absent, adults subsist on stored lipids acquired during the larval stage. As such, adult behavior is devoted almost entirely to reproduction, but the end result (due to lack of feeding) is a lifespan of a week or less once emerged from the pupa.
