Japanese Moths

Moths are wicked cool! Right?

Well, Japan has a large number of pretty exotic looking baby moths (caterpillars to you and me), some of which are even poisonous. They turn into a wide variety of pretty swanky looking adult moths (i.e. moths), too.

Luckily for the moth enthusiast, there is a website devoted to detailing each and every Japanese species. It's in Japanese, but not hard to work out.


Here it is: みんなで作る日本産蛾類図鑑
The site lists 80 species groups of moth, a few of the coolest varieties of which are included here for your pleasure. It also has reams of data for you moth buffs out there.

Epicopeia hainesii hainesii

Cyanea Syntypistis Izuensis

Neomicropteryx Kazusan

More

• You may think some of these look like butterflies. Well, yes, they do. The differences between moths and butterflies are very minor, the most significant being that when at rest moths spread their wings, while butterflies hold them upright and together.
• The picture at the top of this entry is the awesomely named Nemophora Metalica.