Beautiful garden visitor

[krait]

Earlier this week, as I was tying up my cucumber plants, I nearly toppled from my precarious perch right into this beautiful resting moth:









Fortunately, I didn't fall, and I also managed to avoid disturbing my visitor's rest while snapping these shots!

Comments

[blnchflr]

Wow, that is gorgeous!!

[krait]

Thank you! Though I can hardly take credit; it's not as though I painted her onto the leaf! :D

[pebblerocker]

Gorgeous! Well camouflaged, too.

[krait]

It was very well camouflaged -- I stood there for five or ten minutes struggling with a roll of twine and a pole and didn't notice it, despite it being two inches from said pole!

[tropicsbear]

I had to squint a bit at the first pic to see anything but wow! It's so pretty *A*

[krait]

That's... oddly congruent with my experience when I first twigged that something was a bit unusual about that leaf! :D

First I noticed the twirly taper-y bits, which seemed unusual for a cucumber leaf; then my brain registered the strong black bar, and then the rest came into focus...

[tropicsbear]

My first thought was, "Why does this leaf have a moustache?"

[soc_puppet]

Luna moth! They are so pretty, oh my gosh <3 I can't tell for certain, but I think this one might be female? The antenna seem a bit small/thinly "feathered" for a male.

[krait]

The antennae were pretty small, but very dark/visible; I was surprised, since the only luna moth I have seen prior to this was (in my admittedly fuzzy memory) possessed of paler antennae.

I hope she had a nice rest!