Coscinocera hercules
Encyclopedia
The Hercules Moth is a moth
of the Saturniidae
family, endemic to New Guinea
and northern Australia
.
It has a wingspan
of ca. 27 cm it is the largest moth found in Australia, and one of the largest in the world.
The larvae feed on Polyscias elegans
, Glochidion ferdinandi
, Dysoxylum muelleri, Black Cherry, Timonius rumphii, but also eat other plants in captivity.
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
of the Saturniidae
Saturniidae
The Saturniidae, commonly known as saturniids, are among the largest and most spectacular of the moths. They form a family of Lepidoptera, with an estimated 1,300 to 1,500 described species worldwide...
family, endemic to New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
and northern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
It has a wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
of ca. 27 cm it is the largest moth found in Australia, and one of the largest in the world.
The larvae feed on Polyscias elegans
Polyscias elegans
Polyscias elegans, known as the Celery Wood is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia. It occurs in a variety of different rainforest types; from fertile basaltic soils, to sand dunes and less fertile sedimentary soils. The range of natural distribution is from Jervis Bay in southern New South...
, Glochidion ferdinandi
Glochidion ferdinandi
Glochidion ferdinandi, commonly known as the cheese tree, is a species of tree in the Phyllanthaceae family. It is native to eastern Australia, where it grows in rainforests and wetter sclerophyll forests...
, Dysoxylum muelleri, Black Cherry, Timonius rumphii, but also eat other plants in captivity.