Eumorpha Pandorus

Virginia has been delightful for my insect-loving girls.  The warm, wet climate means there are TONS of bugs.  I think the girls would like to spend most days with their nose to the ground looking for crawling things.  Last week, right outside our door, we found this beautiful moth...

It's scientific name is Eumorpha Pandorus, but the girls named it Maya.  It is the biggest moth I've ever seen.  From what we found online (see more here), it is fairly common, but this is the first we've seen.  The girls put it in their butterfly enclosure and put some sliced fruit in there for it to eat.  That's what we've done in the past for butterflies, so we hoped it would work for moths also.  Unfortunately, Maya only survived until the next day.  I suspect she was hurt or sick when we found her and that's why she was grounded outside our door and didn't move too much when the girls picked her up.  We now have her body in an envelope, waiting for me to do some research on insect preservation.  Soon, we may have a framed Eumorpha Pandorus hanging on our wall!