Luna Moth (Actias luna) Life Cycle

Luna moths are beautiful. This individual is a male. As is the case with many moths, males have larger and more feathery antennae than females. Female Luna Moths emit pheromones.  Males use their antennae to "smell" and find females.  Males also have slightly longer tails.   (Photo by Jo on 3/21/07.)

I happen to think Luna Moth caterpillars are also quite attractive. Their bright green color almost seems to glow. After emerging from their eggs, Luna Moth caterpillars go through five stages (instars) before pupating. The larger specimen in the photo above is in its fifth and final instar. (Photo by Marvin on 9/8/09.)

But even I have to admit: A Luna Moth pupa isn't much to look at. When a fifth instar Luna Moth caterpillar is ready to pupate, it crawls down into the leaf litter and uses it silk -- It is a Giant Silkworm Moth, after all. -- to bind several leaves together. It then spins a cocoon inside which the pupa forms. (Photo by Marvin on 9/12/09.)

I've removed most of the leaves in the shot above. You can see a little bit of the silken cocoon. I could carefully remove the pupa from the cocoon without harming it, but won't. The cocoon and leaves help protect the pupa and keep it slightly damp during the long wait until spring, so I will leave them in place.

(BugGuide has images of all stages in a Luna Moth's life cycle, including a shot of the papa without its protective cocoon.)

A little general information on Luna Moths from their BugGuide species page: In the United States, Luna Moths have been found in every state east of the Great Plains. Their primary habitat is deciduous forests. Adult moths only live about a week. They do not (cannot) eat as adult moths. Their only objective is reproduction.

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Luna Moth (Actias luna) Life Cycle

Luna Moth Caterpillar (Actias luna)

Luna Moth Caterpillars (Actias luna) are such a bright lime-green they almost appear translucent. We found about a dozen caterpillars on a couple of sweet gum saplings growing along side the road just up from the house.

From a distance, the Luna Moth caterpillar does an excellent job of looking like a leaf. The weak subspiracular stripe on abdomen and yellow lines that cross the larva's back near the back end of each segment look like leaf veins. We'd probably walked passed these caterpillars many times before noticing them. I actually found the caterpillars by first noticing the eaten leaves on the sapling. I then started looking for the caterpillar that had done the damage.

The larger caterpillar is in its fifth and final instar. I'm not sure about the smaller. Even if the eggs are laid at the same time and they hatch at about the same time, caterpillars often pass through their instars at different rates. (Note: The anal proleg edged in yellow is one of the identifying characteristics of a Luna Moth caterpillar.)

Luna Moth caterpillar demonstrating the coordination between its six true legs and mouth. It's dining on sweet gum in this case. Hickory, walnut, persimmon, and birch are also common host trees. The caterpillar must eat enough now to sustain it through the adult stage of its life cycle because adult Luna Moths are incapable of eating.

For more information on Luna Moths, please see:
BugGuide Species Page.
BugGuide photos of all five caterpillar instars.
Butterflies and Moths of North America.
Animal Diversity Web.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

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Luna Moth Caterpillar (Actias luna)