# Identify an insect, please?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-an-insect-please/502017>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 5, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-an-insect-please/502017 "2009-07-05T22:24:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-an-insect-please/502017/1 "2009-07-05T22:24:21Z")

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I’m in the Catskills in upstate New York, and just recently saw an odd creature which I guess was some sort of moth. It was green, the color of a grasshopper or praying mantis, and shaped like a manta ray when it sat at rest. Anyone know exactly what it was?

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-an-insect-please/502017/2 "2009-07-05T22:37:43Z")

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[Luna Moth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actias_luna) perhaps?

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**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-an-insect-please/502017/3 "2009-07-06T14:56:40Z")

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Could be, I suppose, though the back-end looked more like a single tail than what, on the luna moth pictures are obviously the twin backs of the wings. And also, while it’s possible I might have just overlooked them, I don’t think my bug had those distinctive dots like the luna moth has - just totally solid green.

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**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-an-insect-please/502017/4 "2009-07-06T15:53:37Z")

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Here are a bunch of different [green moths](http://bugguide.net/node/view/169102). Any of those?