Red-tailed silkworm moth
actias rhodopneuma
The red-tailed silkworm moth belongs to the genus Arthropods, Insects, Lepidoptera, Silkworm Moth Family, and Tail silkworm moth. It is mainly distributed in Yunnan, and the photo is taken in Yingjiang.
The genus has always been a beauty, and the red-tailed silkworm moth is no exception. The red-tailed silkworm moth in the photo is a male insect, the fleshy body and forewings are apricot yellow, and purple red, brownish yellow, pink, orange red, brownish black are gradually visible. Most importantly, so many colors come together, it actually looks fresh and plain, and people have to marvel at the magic of nature's color matching. The female of the red-tailed silkworm moth is also very good, the whole body is pale green, and the outer edge of the forewing is slightly arched outward, which looks more rounded. In fact, this is also the best way to distinguish between male and female adults of the silkworm moth family: the leading edge of the male adult forewing is slightly concave, and the female is arched outward.
The most emblematic of their beauty is their long, flowing tail protrusions, which can be up to 6 to 11 cm long and have pink eye lines, which, if magnified N times, are like a well-made kite. It is said that this tail protrusion can confuse bats that forage at night, but it is not known how much credibility there is.
In the large family of moths, the size of the silkworm moth is relatively large, and the wingspan of the red-tailed silkworm moth described today can reach 90 to 110 mm, although it is slightly smaller than the large silkworm moth, but it is larger than most moths.
In the past, due to the large size and graceful shape of the genus, it was collected as a luxury item by European aristocrats. At present, there are about 38 species of tailed silkworm moths known in the world, mainly distributed in Asia and North America, China is an important distribution area of tailed silkworm moths, and more than ten species are known, including Southwest China and South China, including Yunnan.
Zhang Weiwei: Entomologist, popular science writer, and ecological photographer. He has developed a number of new taxonomic orders of fossil insects in Amber, including fossil neoorder Chiptera in Burmese amber: Alienoptera; author of "Insect Genealogy: A Field Identification Guide for the World's Insects 410 Families", "Catalogue of The Stick-Insects and Leaf-Insects of China" and many other books, and has won the China Publishing Government Award, Chongqing Science and Technology Progress Award and other awards.
Open the treasure house of biodiversity, let Yunnan go to the world, let the world know Yunnan! We are also eagerly looking forward to your participation, if you have taken wonderful species photos in Yunnan, welcome to submit, once hired, the contribution fee is excellent.
Submission method: Send the photo to the mailbox [email protected] and leave the author's contact information.
At last
Follow the small cloth to review
Previous issue
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="29" > "Yunnan Biodiversity Digital Encyclopedia Atlas"</h1>
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="30" > knowledge points</h1>