 
The American Luna Moth
(Actius luna)
by Nigel Venters
The American Luna Moth is a spectacular species. We all know that most species of moths are brown and drab…and are usually ignored by people, how different the Luna moth is! This large pale green moth has a long tail on each hindwing and never fails to impress anyone who sees it. It belongs to a family of moths called Silkmoths (Saturniidae) and within this group there are a number of similar, and even more spectacular species found all over the temperate and tropical World. Luna moths always fly at night.
 It is easy to tell the difference between the male and the female, the male has wide feather like antennae, and the female has thin thread-like antennae, with very short feathering. This can be seen in the photo at right, where the female is at the top of the picture.
This close-up shows the male’s feathery antennae. If you catch a female she is likely to have already mated, however to be certain you can place her in a netted cage outside in the garden at night…if she has not already paired she will attract males from miles around you. This process is called assembling, and the female releases a pheromone that can be detected by males from miles away. The males use the feathery antennae to detect her scent and will be found clinging onto the cage trying to get inside!
Mated females lay a 150 or more large eggs, in small clusters, which soon hatch into tiny caterpillars. Be warned, this is a large moth and the caterpillars eat lots of food. If you want to breed them, It maybe better to keep only around a dozen.
Range in the
US
&
Canada
The Luna moth is quite common in Southern Canada most of the Eastern States in the
US
from
Maine
to
Florida
. It becomes less common the further west you go. In the North there is only one generation a year…but the further South you go there are two or more generations per year, and in the far South Luna moths have been seen at all times of the year.
Lifecycle
The full grown caterpillar is bright green with pale orange spots, and is as large as your thumb! It feeds on many plants in the wild such as American Beech, Hickory, Cherry, Willow etc…but the best foods to use in captivity are definitely Walnut and Sweetgum (Liquidambar)
The full grown caterpillar, passes its last meal undigested as a wet mess…then looks for somewhere to turn into a pupa. It may wander for some time before it draws some leaves together with strands of silk from a gland called a spinneret, just like a spider has. The final cocoon is tough and quite hard…completely built with silk! It soon turns into a fat dark brown pupa.
This is the stage that many cocoons in captivity die through desiccation, remember it is dry inside your house!
Hatching the moth from the cocoon
If you want your moths to hatch in the current year, spray the cocoons with water every week, and keep them warm. If you want to keep them until the following year the best method is to place them, completely dry, in a small airtight container and put them in the fridge. Bring them out the following April, spray with water and keep them warm.
The adults pair easily in a small cage…but do not try to feed them as they don’t even have a mouth! All their nutrition is gained as a caterpillar! They will lay their eggs even if there is no hostplant in the cage…however I always found that by putting some hostplant in water encourages the female to lay more eggs.
Luna Moths around the World
There are several other species of Silkmoth in the
US
, however none of them are so bright or have tails to their wings. Around the tropical World there are many species which are even larger than the American Luna moth…with even longer tails…one such giant can be found in
Madagascar
.. called the Madagascar Comet moth.
Indian Moon Moth
Actias selene
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Considered the most beautiful moth in the
US
….
The Luna Moth…although this species does not occur in Europe…these moths are known as Moon moths in
England
.
Luna moths are very popular with hobby breeders in
Europe
, and livestock of dozens of different Luna moth species from all around the World are readily available from dealers.
In the
US
the USDA prevents the importation of foreign species for the hobbyist to enjoy.
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