MOTHS NEVER EAT! A moth under a microscope - moth facts for kids with Eric скачать в хорошем качестве

MOTHS NEVER EAT! A moth under a microscope - moth facts for kids with Eric

We think this is an American Gypsy Moth. This moth is a girl - girl gypsy moths are white with brown spots on their wings, boy gypsy moths are light brown. Girl moths have thin antennae. Boy moths have furry thick antennae. The wingspan of this moth is about 3 centimeters. We caught it at our beach house in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, 2 blocks from the beach, on our porch. These moths are nocturnal, which means they sleep during the day and fly around at night. This moth is clearly asleep, so we are able to take a close look at it under a microscope. Its wings have a furry edge. Very beautiful and a bit scary. The moth babies, or larvae, grow into caterpillars and eat tree leaves. When it's time to become a moth a caterpillar makes itself a silk cocoon somewhere under a leaf or in the tree bark. And in that cocoon it grows wings and turns into a gypsy moth. Gypsy moth is a pest. Its larvae are always hungry and destroy the leaves of hardwood trees in the Eastern United States. Grownup moths generally don't eat at all, because they have done all their eating as caterpillars. This moth is not native to America. It was brought from Europe in 1869 by people who hoped to make silk from its cocoons. But the moths were accidentally released. Soon the gypsy moth caterpillars were eating the trees all over the American east. The government started a program to destroy the moths, but the moths won, and they are still here, eating the trees! The caterpillar of the gypsy moth can cause a rash if you touch it with your bare hand. Be careful, guys, don't touch furry brown caterpillars that eat the trees in your garden!