As soon as Mike E. and I crossed the wooden bridge on our approach to the steep climb up Ganier Ridge at Nashville’s Radnor Lake, Mike stopped, whipped out his camera, and started taking pictures of a tree trunk. Huh?

Upon closer inspection, I saw that Mike was photographing a large, uniquely shaped green moth that was just above eye level on the tree trunk. I would have walked right by without noticing this huge green-winged insect.

This is the easiest insect identification I have ever performed online: as soon as I searched Google Images for the terms big green moth Tennessee, almost every resulting image contained a Luna moth! The Luna moth – Actias luna – is such a uniquely shaped insect, there’s really no mistaking it once you’ve seen a specimen.

The digital photographs I took of this Luna moth did not turn out very sharp; because my camera – despite being a fine example of a basic digital camera – was not designed for close-up, macro images. I am sure Mike’s photos turned out much better; I’ll see if he will send some for this post.

Best resources for the Luna moth, Actias luna

• Actias luna – the Luna moth – wiki
• Luna moth: Actias luna
• Butterflies and Moths – Actias luna
• Luna moth life cycle in photographs – Wormspit
• Luna moth – UFL Entomology Dept.
• Rosy Maple Moth and Luna Moth – What’s That Bug
• Luna moth life cycle – YouTube video
• Great photo of Luna moth on Flickr
• Lunar moth photos
• Saturniidae, classification of moths – wiki
• Nearctic zone – wiki
• Insecta
• Lepidoptera
• Saturniidae
• Actius
• Insecta site
• Insecta – Wikispecies
• More about scientific names of insects
• Insect Identification site – insects and spiders

Other resources

• Magic of Life Butterfly House
• Collection of butterfly photos, directory listing at Magic of Life
• Butterfly identification guides
• ID guides at Discover Life
• Insect ID guide: BugFinder
• Overview of insect orders