# What kind of moth is this?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 6, 2016, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200 "2016-07-06T08:03:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2016, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/1 "2016-07-06T08:03:14Z")
[This](http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd69/brujaja/KIMG02741_zpsc688j7ji.jpg)
[guy](http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd69/brujaja/KIMG02751_zpsibsqey11.jpg)
Just flew in my window a few minutes ago, making so much noise with his robust and sizeable self that I thought it was one of the cats. He is about 3" long, and 5" wide.
He kept perching places and vibrating his wings blindingly fast.
Tell me about him?
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### Author:  [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2016, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/2 "2016-07-06T08:34:16Z")
White-lined Sphinx Moth. Google will tell you far more than we can
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### Author:  [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2016, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/3 "2016-07-06T08:40:39Z")
We can tell you that thing is mothzilla.
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### Author:  [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2016, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/4 "2016-07-06T08:47:50Z")
> [@The\_Niply\_Elder](#):
>
> We can tell you that thing is mothzilla.
That would be Mothra.
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### Author:  [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2016, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/5 "2016-07-06T09:21:32Z")
That’s him! Funny, I was going to describe the moth as being not much smaller than a hummingbird, and apparently the White-Lined Sphinx Moth is sometimes also called the hummingbird moth.
(Moth and butterfly taxonomy amuses me. So meticulously descriptive and formal. Reminds me of a band back in the 1980s who did a song called “Great Spangled Fritillary.”)
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2016, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/6 "2016-07-06T09:32:39Z")
> [@brujaja](#):
>
> Reminds me of a band back in the 1980s who did a song called “Great Spangled Fritillary.”)
Cocteau Twins. They did a whole vaguely-[butterfly-themed EP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echoes_in_a_Shallow_Bay)
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### Author:  [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2016, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/7 "2016-07-06T10:02:50Z")
We had a luna moth drop by the other day!
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### Author:  [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2016, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/8 "2016-07-06T12:55:14Z")
> [@Atomic\_Mama](#):
>
> We had a luna moth drop by the other day!
One of my faves, loved it when LUNESTA™ used one in their TV ads.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/9 "2016-07-06T15:09:52Z")
> [@Atomic\_Mama](#):
>
> We had a luna moth drop by the other day!
That’s one I never had in my childhood collection. Not from lack of trying.
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### Author:  [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/10 "2016-07-06T20:54:58Z")
I believe in their previous life, they are the big, green caterpillars that consume your tomato plants.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/11 "2016-07-06T21:55:54Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#):
>
> I believe in their previous life, they are the big, green caterpillars that consume your tomato plants.
You’re describing more than one larva. The most common is the tomato hornworm, \*Manduca quinquemaculata, \*which becomes the hawk moth.
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### Author:  [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-moth-is-this/759200/12 "2016-07-07T00:00:36Z")
I saw a white-lined sphinx moth [caterpillar](http://imgur.com/kCUPf4f) in March, munching on the wildflowers of the superbloom in Death Valley. It was the biggest animal in probably a square mile!