The Spanish Moon Moth is also known as the Stained Glass Moth. One look, and you will know why. This moth is regarded as one of the most beautiful in Europe. It’s In the Saturnidae (silk moth) family. The Spanish Moon Moth has a wingspan of 6–10 cm(2.3–3.9 inches). It’s legal to collect and keep this moth as a pet. In some countries, it is protected. It is quite challenging to rear and breed. It’s found only in mountainous regions in the Alps and Pyrenees. The larvae feed on pine trees. In the wild, they feed on only Scots Pine and Black Pine. In captivity, they will eat many kinds of pine.

The Mandolin Moth is named due to the male’s habit of serenading the female moth. He does this with a knot on one of his wings. His wings are concave instead of flat. He rubs it across his hind leg to make a noise. This attracts and impresses the female. Hopefully. The Mandolin Moth lives on Oak and Beech trees. It has a wingspan of 33–34 mm. The male and the female look similar, but the male has a longer body with a tuft of pale fur on its rear. It comes from the Noctuidae family, or “owlet moths.” These all have drab coloration and look roughly like owls. You can find the Mandolin Moth in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. Austria and Bulgaria are good places to find them.

The Noctuid Calpe Moth pierces flesh to feed on the blood of humans and animals. It will drink a human’s blood for up to an hour. It’s not the only parasitic moth that lives on animals; there’s another that drinks tear fluid from eyeballs. It lives in Southeast Asia, in places like Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Its wingspan is 40–45 mm (1.6–1.7 inches). It’s from the family Erebidae. When it pierces your skin, it leaves an itchy mark. The area around the bite can go hard for around 5 weeks. This is the only species of moth with a proboscis hard and strong enough to get through skin.

The Sloth Moth is symbiotic with the three-toed sloth, which lives high in the canopy of trees in South America. The sloth only comes down the tree once a week to relieve itself. Why it does this and doesn’t just poop from the branches has nothing to do with this moth. The male has a 13–15 mm wingspan. This is an example of a coprophilic (excreta-loving) moth. The moth needs the sloth to go down the tree trunk. The female moths lay their eggs in the pile of sloth dung at the base of the tree. The caterpillars now have a rich food source. The sloth gets a carpet of nutrient-rich algae on its fur due to the Sloth Moth. It eats this to supplement its nutrient-poor diet.

The twin-spotted sphinx moth hides a beautiful pair of rosy pink hindwings with blue-black spots. The rest of the moth is fairly dull gray-white. It has a wingspan of 3/4–3 1/4 inches (4.5–8.3 cm). The Twin Spotted Sphinx Moth lives across North America, from Nova Scotia to Northern Florida, Manitoba to Arizona. It favors forests and shrubland near lakes and rivers. The caterpillars enjoy eating fruit trees, including apples, peaches, and plums. They will also graze on willow, birch, ash, and elm. This moth is in the Sphingidae family.

The Rosy Maple Moth has to take the title of the world’s cutest moth. It’s really fluffy, pink, and yellow. It has huge black eyes. It has a wingspan of 1 5/16–2 1/16 inches (3.4–5.2 cm). The caterpillars feed on maple and oak trees. The adults don’t feed. This moth is native to the southern part of North America. That encompasses Nova Scotia to Minnesota, then Florida and east Texas. The adults emerge from their cocoons in mid-afternoon and are mating by evening. The females lay 10–30 eggs the next morning.

The Lymantrine Moth looks like a ghost with its white, transparent wings. It looks like the fine lace of a wedding veil. Accordingly, it is also rare. This moth was thought to be a butterfly for many years. It’s also known as the Fairy Lymnatrine. It is so rare that there are not many photos of it. It comes from the Yunnan region of China. Lymantria means “destroyer.” Some of the species in this family can defoliate whole forests of trees. It comes from the family Lymantriinae, subfamily Erebidae. These moths are known as “tussock moths.” They often have caterpillars with irritating hairs that cause skin rashes. This wards off predators.

The Cream Spot Tiger Moth is a pretty moth found in the UK. It is so named because it resembles a tiger’s color and stripes. It is most frequent in southern England and Wales. It is most active in May and June. It has a wingspan of 45 to 60 mm (1.77 to 2.3 inches). Its favorite habitat is grassland and woodland. The Cream Spot Tiger Moth’s caterpillars are brown and hairy. They feed on a variety of herbaceous plants like dead nettles and dandelions. They spend most of a year as larvae, then emerge to become adult moths after 20 days in the cocoon.

The Corn Earworm Moth is another ‘pest’ species. It feeds on ears of corn as a caterpillar. At first, the immature larvae feed together, but as they mature, they turn cannibalistic. They attack and kill each other until there is only one larva left in each ear of corn. The Corn Earworm Moth has a wingspan of 32 to 45 mm (1.25 to 1.77 inches) It’s found throughout North America, except for Canada and Alaska. In cold climates, the larvae die over the winter. It’s not too fussy as regards host plants; it will live on most vegetable plants, including broccoli, tomato, okra, melon, and cabbage.

The Barberry Carpet Moth is not very common but is getting more so as its food plant, barberry, is replanted in the UK. There are two times in the year that adults will fly: May to June and July to August. This moth has a subtle patterned coloration of browns. Barberry was found to host stem rust disease, which has affected cereal crops in the past. Today’s crops are resistant to stem rust, so barberry bushes and the Barberry Carpet Moth are making a comeback. The larvae feed all summer, then overwinter in cocoons just below the surface of the soil.