Antigua, Guatemala: A Moth

Rustic sphinx moth, Antigua, Guatemala. April 2016.

I was walking to Spanish class one morning, maybe, when I saw this moth on the sidewalk.

No, I didn't add it to my carcass gallery. Because I'm pretty sure it was alive.

A large moth. Best I can tell, it's a rustic sphinx moth.

Oh, I've met his cousins before.

My introduction to his family was on the back deck of my house, back when I had one. I blithely sauntered over to one of my potted plants one day, and saw this, this, this CREATURE from another galaxy, or maybe from a 1950s secret radiation experiment facility, or I don't know what, but it was jolly fucking GREEN and HUGE and MOVING.

I called my friend to come over immediately to look at this thing and to DO SOMETHING about it.

That's when I learned about the caterpillar youth of sphinx moths. Holy Christ.

A sphinx moth caterpillar. Credit: What's That Bug?

Later, I met a white-lined sphinx moth in Alamogordo, right outside my front door.

White-lined sphinx moth, Alamogordo, New Mexico.

And then, later, seeing a hummingbird moth (also of the sphinx family) at Bandelier National Monument.

Humming bird moth (aka sphinx moth), Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico.

These moths fall into that category of living things which have an awful/awe-ful beauty.