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Photo#1299331
Beautiful white & grey-spotted tiger moth - Arachnis picta

Beautiful white & grey-spotted tiger moth - Arachnis picta
San Mateo County, California, USA
September 29, 2016
This photo was taken while the moth was "shivering" to elevate the temperature of its thoracic flight muscles, in preparation to fly off. It had been torpid when I first encountered it, so presumably the thoracic muscles were initially too cold to support flight. I was surprised that the 1/250th of a second shutter speed here was sufficient to "freeze" the wing motion so well in the photo, as the wings were quite a blur as seen in real time. It stayed stationary and shivered for about 60 seconds in total before darting off in flight.

Later, I read that these moths don't feed as adults, so their total adult energy stores are limited...and I felt bad for making it expend the energy necessary to vigorously fly off. But had I not engaged it, it may well have been stepped on, as it was crouched on the ground on a narrow walkway. Next time I find one in a similar situation, I'll try to gently move it to a safer place, without invoking a large expenditure of energy.

Images of this individual: tag all
Beautiful white & grey-spotted tiger moth - Arachnis picta Beautiful white & grey-spotted tiger moth - Arachnis picta Beautiful white & grey-spotted tiger moth - Arachnis picta Beautiful white & grey-spotted tiger moth - Arachnis picta Beautiful white & grey-spotted tiger moth - Arachnis picta