Actias luna
AKT-ee-usmmLOO-nuh
(Linnaeus, 1758) (Phalaena)

Actias luna female on sweetgum courtesy of John H. Campbell.

This site has been created by Bill Oehlke at oehlkew@islandtelecom.com
Comments, suggestions and/or additional information are welcomed by Bill.

TAXONOMY: Superfamily: Bombycoidea Latreille, 1802 Family: Saturniidae Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Subfamily Saturniinae Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Tribe: Saturniini Boisduval, [1837] 1834 Genus: Actias Leach, 1815

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DISTRIBUTION:

The luna moth, Actias luna (wingspan 4.5-5.0 inches), is very common in many counties of the eastern states from Maine to Florida and generally becomes less plentiful as one moves westward to Texas and the Great Plains. Lunas are found in many Canadian provinces: Nova Scotia, P.E.I., New Brunswick, and in southern portions of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. I have very much enjoyed collecting them with Derek Bridgehouse in the Malay Falls area of Nova Scotia where they are especially large, abundant and beautiful.

It might possibly be found in northern Mexico in the Rio Bravo area.

Actias luna female, courtesy of Erik and Kathy Olson.

Actias luna male, copyright protected, courtesy of Thibaud Decaens.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

In Canada and the northern border states within its range, the luna caterpillar shows a preference for white/paper birch (Betula paperifera), and the moth is single brooded with most adults flying from late May to early July.

In New Jersey and states of that general latitude, caterpillars consume hickory, walnut, and sweetgum. Double brooded stock first appears from late April to May with the second brood appearing nine to eleven weeks later.

Alex Baranowsky reports wild males flying in and pairing with caged females, May 17-18, 2015, after a cold winter and cool early spring which suddenly turned quite warm, even hot. Quite possibly there will be at least a partial second brood in Connecticut this year.

In the more southern latitudes, larvae favour persimmon.

Ryan Saint Laurent of Rhode Island has found a wild luna larva feeding on what he is pretty sure is bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica).

Actias luna on Myrica, Rhode Island, September 11, 2009.

Bayberry is in the Myricaceae family and often holds its leaves well into fall. It might be a suitable late season foodplant, naturally found along the East Coast from North Carolina to Maine and into the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. It is also found as far west as Ontario and Ohio.

Please note, sometimes what one larva will eat is not always palatable to other larvae of the same species, not even to other larvae from the same parentage.

In August of 2011 Ryan found luna larva feeding on Grey Birch (Betula populifolia), also in Rhode Island.

Actias luna fifth iinstars, Linn County, Iowa,
July 18, 2013, courtesy of Thomas Jantscher.

The luna larvae image above shows the variability in degree of red on fifth instar larvae.

Thomas has been updating me with regard to Sphingidae and Saturniidae images and sightings from Iowa each year since 2010, and I have been adjusting the Iowa range maps (Saturniidae) and county thumbnail checklists (Sphingidae).

I don't think I have ever seen the dark grey to black pm line, evidenced in the image below, on lunas from New Jersey to PEI, Canada.

Actias luna Chatfield Park, Lee County, Iowa,
August 6, 2013, courtesy of Thomas Jantscher.

Adult moths fly at eight to ten week intervals starting in March, allowing for at least three broods. Adult Actias luna have been taken in every month in Louisiana, suggesting at least five broods in the extreme south.

Vernon A. Brou Jr. has sent me an interesting and informative article regarding luna distribution and flights in Louisiana.

Ron Votaw reports Actias luna flying in Yard, Comal County, Texas, March 10. A female that emerged March 5, remained quiet in a large outdoor cage in cold weather. With the warmer weather on March 9 she called in a wild male in the early morning hours of March 10. Ron indicates about 1/3 of his summer brood lunas went into a diapause while the other 2/3 emerged as expected.

Lunas which emerge in the spring often have a red lateral line on each side of the body and usually have narrow outer red margins on both fore and hind wings. This red colouration is absent from subsequent broods.

Visit Actias luna males, spring and summer forms, courtesy of Darrell Gulin.

ECLOSION:

Adults usually eclose from their cocoons in mid morning. The cocoon is rather flimsy and valveless. The moth makes quite a racket as it heaves itself against one end of the cocoon, tearing at the silk with hornlike projections near the base of the forewing. A secretion called cocoonase helps to break down the sericin binding the silk.

Photo courtesy John H. Campbell

Actias luna male, with cocoonase drop visible, courtesy of Greg Bingaman.

In this image, it appears the moth is already outdside the cocoon, probably based upon the anterior end of the cocoon being cut away prior to eclosion.

Greg writes, "Every year, I stop and watch these emerge. It never seems to get old. I think the biggest and simplest reason for this is the fact [eclosions signal] that spring is definently upon us. Trees bud, and flowers bloom, but too me spring isn't here until the lunas are. I managed to catch this male on his way out and set up the camera. You can see with incredible detail the result of metamorphis. I must admit to me, a man of science, the process is still a "miracle" of nature. You can easily see the first drop of cocoonase (lower right) developing from the galea on his face. In further photos, the drops collect on the ground."

The soft moth (female to left, note narrow antennae) can escape through a hole roughly 3/8 inch in diameter. Once out of the cocoon, the moth must climb to hang its wings for inflation. I place my luna cocoons in a 11" x11" x 2' emerging cage made out of folded hardware cloth with a 1/2 inch mesh. The newly emerged, soft, pliant moths climb up the wire and hang from either the top or upper reaches of the sides. Photo courtesy of John H. Campbell

One of the most beautiful natural sights I ever witnessed as a young boy occurred one May morning when I chased an errant baseball into a mature hickory stand in New Jersey. Sunlight streamed through small openings in the leafy canopy onto lush ground foliage on the forest floor. A fully expanded, freshly emerged luna hung about one foot from the ground on the underside of a skunk cabbage stem.

Despite having witnessed hundreds of eclosions in my lifetime, I still often pause to watch lunas eclose and inflate in emergence cages. All of the giant Saturniidae pump fluid into veins in soft stubbly wings while hanging from stems, tree trunks, etc. Photo courtesy of John H. Campbell

The entire process seldom takes more than half an hour, and in another few hours the fully inflated wings have stiffened in preparation for flight.

Even the giant atlas ecloses with wing stubs seldom more than one inch long.

SCENTING AND MATING:

At approximately 10:30 pm (as early as 9:00 pm in early spring) the female moth extends a scent gland from the posterior of her abdomen and begins releasing an air borne pheromone. This scent attracts the male.

Once coupled, the pair will remain that way until the following evening. In captivity siblings will mate readily, even in a small cage. Wild males are easily attracted. Scenting or "calling" usually continues until around 1:00 am or until the female has mated, whichever comes first.

Males usually emerge a day or two before females and it is rare that an unmated female would be captured at a light as females usually don't fly until after mating.

EGGS, CATERPILLARS, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Visit Luna Moths: Eggs to Adult Moths for some helpful rearing tips.

Gravid female moths lay 4-6 gray-brown cylindrical eggs with concave tops on the underside of food plant leaves. Females have a capacity of 150-250 eggs. Incubation time is 8-13 days depending on temperature and humidity. Females readily deposit ova in inflated brown paper sandwich or grocery bags for those who wish to rear this species.

Caterpillars, which grow to approximately 3.5 inches (9 cm.), are predominantly green throughout their five instars and spend roughly one week in each stage except the longer fifth instar. Larvae which are going to overwinter in the pupae/cocoon stage take on a dark amber or burgundy-brown colouration just prior to spinning cocoons.

Photo courtesy of Bill Welch.

Some caterpillars will use a leaf wrap while others descend to spin up among whatever ground protection they can find. Mature larvae "clear their guts" with a loose, runny stool just prior to cocooning.

Luna cocoons are papery thin and pupae outlines can easily be seen when the cocoon is held up to a bright light. Winter diapause stock tends to spin a courser, darker silk. In regions of the United States where lunas are double or triple brooded 25-40% of early brood stock caterpillars will spin the darker cocoon and overwinter instead of eclosing that same summer.

I store my winter diapause stock in small, loosely-lidded containers holding 10-20 cocoons each in the refrigerator crisper. I have not had problems with desiccation even though I do not mist the cocoons. Cocoons may also be stored outdoors in a more natural environment in protective cages.

The pupae are dark brown and the antennae outline can be seen on the pupal shell to determine sexes.

Ian Surman writes, "I have had a very interesting experience with luna this year. Whilst rearing poly on English Elm, I decided to try luna on the same foodplant. To my surprise they have gone all the way through on it and are beginning to spin very good sized cocoons.

"As a precaution, during the third instar I sleeved some of the larvae on Walnut and when this ran low and they were in the final instar, I gave them Elm again and they re-took it without any fuss. I noticed that Elm wasn't on your list of known foodplants, so I thought I would mention this."

Larval Food Plants

Listed below are primary food plant(s) and alternate food plants listed in Stephen E. Stone's Foodplants of World Saturniidae and/or on various internet sources and/or from personal communication.

It is hoped that this alphabetical listing followed by the common name of the foodplant will prove useful. The list is not exhaustive. Experimenting with closely related foodplants is worthwhile.

Betula papyrifera Acer rubrum Acer saccharum Betula pendula Betula populifolia (RSL) Carya cordiformis....... Carya glabra Carya illinoensis Carya ovata Castanea dentata Castanea sativa Fagus grandifolia Humulus lupulus Juglans cinera Juglans nigra Juglans regia Liquidambar styraciflua Liriodendron tulipifera Nyssa sylvatica Myrica pensylvanica(RSL) ....... Ostrya virginiana Plantanus lindeniana Populus tremuloides Prunus domestica Quercus alba Quercus macrocarpa Quercus rubra Rhus glabra Rhus typhina Salix caprea Ulmus procera

White/Paper birch Red maple Sugar maple Silver birch Grey Birch Bitternut hickory Pignut hickory Pecan Shagbark hickory * American chestnut Spanish/Sweet chestnut American beech Hops Butternut * Black walnut English walnut Sweetgum * Tulip tree Black gum Northern bayberry American hop hornbeam Plane (Sycamore) Quaking aspen Garden plum White oak Bur oak Northern red oak Smooth sumac Staghorn sumac (Bonnie Caruthers) Sallow/Goat willow English Elm (IS)

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The pronunciation of scientific names is troublesome for many. The "suggestion" at the top of the page is merely a suggestion. It is based on commonly accepted English pronunciation of Greek names and/or some fairly well accepted "rules" for latinized scientific names.

The suggested pronunciations, on this page and on other pages, are primarily put forward to assist those who hear with internal ears as they read.

There are many collectors from different countries whose intonations and accents would be different.

"Luna" comes from the Latin word for moon and probably refers to the yellow crescents found in the cell of each wing.

The genus name, Actias, probably comes from the Greek Actaeon, who is the hunter who had the misfortune of being torn to pieces by his own dogs after accidentally encountering the naked goddess Artemis. To punish him, Artemis splashed water on Actaeon and turned him into a stag. There is an Asian species named Actias artemis.

Visit Actias luna, second and third instars, courtesy of Salvador Soares
Visit Actias luna dark-veined male, courtesy of Bonnie Caruthers.
Visit Actias luna male, copyright Bonnie J. Caruthers
Visit Actias luna, pair, copyright Darrell Gulin
Visit Actias luna moth inflating its wings by Scott Smith, posted April 26, 2001
Visit Actias luna Spring male, Texas, March 26, courtesy of Robert Nuelle, III
Visit Actias luna emergent females, courtesy of Jan Hellert
Visit Actias luna male and female, by Bob Jensen, posted May 21, 2002
Visit Actias luna caterpillar by Bob Jensen, posted July 15, 2002
Visit Actias luna "calling" female, by Jeff Kaboly, Pennsylvania, July 7, 2002
Visit Actias luna male, female and larval instars 1, 2, 5 by Thibaud Decaens, March 4, 2003
Visit Actias luna on tree stump, Georgia, David Gover, April 7, 2003
Visit Actias luna aberrant male, Don Oehlke, April 23, 2003
Visit Actias luna female, recto, verso and face, courtesy of Erik and Kathy Olson.
Visit Actias luna red larva, Parry Sound, Ontario, August 1, 2010, courtesy of Robyn Scott.
Visit Actias luna male, female, eggs, all instars, on Juglans regia, Canada, courtesy of Diego Poli and Simona Gosi.