Brahmaea Wallichii
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''Brahmaea wallichii'', also known as the owl moth, is a
moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...
from the family
Brahmaeidae Brahmaeidae is a family of insects in the order Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, ...
, the Brahmin moths, and one of its largest species. It is found in the north of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Taiwan, and Japan. The owl moth is nocturnal. The
wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...
is about .


Appearance

The moth has well-developed eye spots on the front wings and a characteristic pattern of black-brown stripes. The light-brown margins of the back wings display small triangular white spots. The robust body is also black and brown, with characteristic orange-brown stripes.


Etymology

The species is named after the botanist
Nathaniel Wallich Nathaniel Wolff Wallich (28 January 1786 – 28 April 1854) was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the Danish East India Company and the British East Indi ...
.


Behavior

The larvae feed on ''
Fraxinus excelsior ''Fraxinus excelsior'', known as the ash, or European ash or common ash to distinguish it from other types of ash, is a flowering plant species in the olive family Oleaceae. It is native throughout mainland Europe east to the Caucasus and Alb ...
'', ''
Ligustrum A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs or trees, with a native distribution from Europe to tropical and subtropical Asia, and with one species each ...
'' and
common lilac ''Syringa vulgaris'', the lilac or common lilac, is a species of flowering plant in the olive family, Oleaceae. Native to the Balkan Peninsula, it is widely cultivated for its scented flowers in Europe (particularly the north and west) and Nort ...
. In captivity they also feed on
elderberry ''Sambucus'' is a genus of between 20 and 30 species of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly referred to as elder, with the flowers as elderflower, and the fruit as elderberry. Description Elders are most ...
. They are able to neutralize plant toxins produced by ''Ligustrum''. The moths are active at night; during the daytime, they rest with outspread wings on tree trunks or on the ground. When disturbed, the moth does not fly away, but fiercely shakes.


Habitat

The
habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
is both
tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
and
temperate forest A temperate forest is a forest found between the tropical and boreal regions, located in the temperate zone. It is the second largest terrestrial biome, covering 25% of the world's forest area, only behind the boreal forest, which covers about 3 ...
s.


Subspecies

*''Brahmaea wallichii wallichii'' *''Brahmaea wallichii insulata'' Inoue, 1984 (Taiwan) *''Brahmaea wallichii saifulica'' de Freina, 1983 (western Himalaya)


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q528841 Brahmaeidae Moths described in 1831 Taxa named by John Edward Gray Moths of Japan Moths of Taiwan Moths of Asia