Photograph by Diogenes.
Photography contest, Honorable Mention.
Attacus atlas -- Atlas moth. This specimen is a captive male at the Museum of the Academy of Natural History of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
11 Comments
Just Bob · 11 April 2016
Well now, that has to be designed, because, uhh, it has DESIGNS!
(Beautiful picture of a beautiful creature, BTW!)
TomS · 11 April 2016
The Wikipedia article says that the Atlas moth adult has no mouth, and thus survives for only a couple of days.
Just Bob · 11 April 2016
Yet another thing named for a pagan deity!
Henry J · 11 April 2016
It's still an insect!!111!!!one!!
Joe Felsenstein · 12 April 2016
It's beautiful, but I did find something to correct. The institution where it lives is actually The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. (It used to be called just the Academy of Natural Sciences but then, in some financial crisis, it got subsumed under Drexel University).
Just a former Philadelphian being picky.
Rikki_Tikki_Taalik · 13 April 2016
They can be amazingly huge with females potentially having a wingspan of over ten inches. Amazing creatures.
I've heard that insects that large could have trouble breathing, but I guess this guy's thin enough that all body parts are close enough to the skin to get oxygen supply.
fusilier · 15 April 2016
Henry J said:
I've heard that insects that large could have trouble breathing, but I guess this guy's thin enough that all body parts are close enough to the skin to get oxygen supply.
Insects have a complex arrangement of channels, leading directly from openings ("spiracles")in the cuticle to all parts of the body. Further, the body pumps air through the channels by a series of movements. If you ever watch a butterfly at a flower, you can see this happening. So oxygen is actively transported, not just moving by diffusion.
The wings don't have living cells in them, once they are fully unfolded, so there's no need to get oxygen or nutrients to them.
fusilier, wearing his old Insect Taxonomist hat, from 40 years ago
James 2:24
grendelsfather · 16 April 2016
You know how you can tell it's a male?
By the little moth balls.
Sorry. I'll show myself out now.
fnxtr · 27 April 2016
"Atticus Atlas" is gonna be my new romantic hero's name. The heroine I've already decided on: Anemone Holdfast.
11 Comments
Just Bob · 11 April 2016
Well now, that has to be designed, because, uhh, it has DESIGNS!
(Beautiful picture of a beautiful creature, BTW!)
TomS · 11 April 2016
The Wikipedia article says that the Atlas moth adult has no mouth, and thus survives for only a couple of days.
Just Bob · 11 April 2016
Yet another thing named for a pagan deity!
Henry J · 11 April 2016
It's still an insect!!111!!!one!!
Joe Felsenstein · 12 April 2016
It's beautiful, but I did find something to correct. The institution where it lives is actually The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. (It used to be called just the Academy of Natural Sciences but then, in some financial crisis, it got subsumed under Drexel University).
Just a former Philadelphian being picky.
Rikki_Tikki_Taalik · 13 April 2016
They can be amazingly huge with females potentially having a wingspan of over ten inches. Amazing creatures.
One for scale
Caterpillar
Henry J · 14 April 2016
I've heard that insects that large could have trouble breathing, but I guess this guy's thin enough that all body parts are close enough to the skin to get oxygen supply.
fusilier · 15 April 2016
grendelsfather · 16 April 2016
You know how you can tell it's a male?
By the little moth balls.
Sorry. I'll show myself out now.
fnxtr · 27 April 2016
"Atticus Atlas" is gonna be my new romantic hero's name. The heroine I've already decided on: Anemone Holdfast.
Henry J · 27 April 2016
The perils of Anemone?