So I rounded the corner, key in hand, to open the front door to Hays Center yesterday. †At first thought, I wondered how a leaf stuck in that position. †As I closed in, I could see it wasn’t a leaf at all – it was a “bug”.
What the heck?
Take a picture and ship the photo to the Bio department, I thought. They’ll know. It was only minutes before I got an explanation from Professor Eric Wetzel. Eric told me:
“This beautiful critter is a luna moth, which is in a group of moths called the giant silkworm moths. Larvae are greenish and pretty big, usually feeding on walnut or hickory. In case you’re curious, this looks to be a male, which you can tell by the really big, feathery antennae (which they use to catch molecules of pheromone put out by females to attract the males). Very cool.”
I think it’s very cool that Eric took the time to not only give me a name but explain it as well.
Only at Wabash…
