EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Silk of the Congo

Silk Moth (species unidentified), Family Saturniidae
Democratic Republic of Congo

Explanation:  It is well after dark, here in the village of Monkoto in the heart of the Congo River Basin, central tropical Africa.  The horseshoe bats are calling from the tall tree canopy by our hut, and as I use my headlamp to illuminate the outside wall I see a profusion of nocturnal visitors ... including this beautiful but unidentified moth of the night.

This seems to be a member of the silk moth family, Saturniidae, with its fuzzy body, feathery antennae, and colorful and marked forewings.  

  

Silk moths have no capacity for hearing -- no "ears" or tympana.

Adults, like this one, are very short-lived and do not feed, as their mouth parts of vestigial only.

They are some of the largest moths, indeed the largest lepidopterans in the world. 

In the Congo, the larvae (caterpillars) of silk moths make for a vital source of protein, especially for villagers living far from fishable rivers, as we explored in a previous EPOW episode.  

Information:
     van Huis, A.  2019.  Cultural significance of Lepidoptera in sub-Saharan Africa.  Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 15: art. no. 26.