ABH 68.001	Emperor Moth Saturnia pavonia		BF 1643
Back To	(Linnaeus, 1758)
Phenology	JAN  FEB  MAR  APR  MAY  JUN  JUL  AUG  SEP  OCT  NOV  DEC
Family	Saturniidae
Wingspan	c 40-60 mm.
Description	Males are reddish grey with two white patches on the forewings which contain prominent eye spots. There is a suffused white band at the termen of each forewing and a red apical streak. The dark eye spots on the tawny-coloured hindwings are concealed when the moth is at rest but shown when the moth is alarmed or threatened. There is a diffused blackish band towards the outer margins of the hindwings. The females are larger than males and mainly grey on both wings and has similar markings
Life Cycle	This moth flies by day and the males can be seen skipping over the moorlans at speed in search of females that shelter within the heather in May and June. Mature caterpillars of the emperor moth is lime green with yellow or orange warts, which sprout black bristles!The bright green larvae have been recorded on meadowsweet and heather. The full-grown larvae spin a tough silken cocoon attached to the stems of heather and other low-growing herbage. The pupa overwinters. Like many cocoon spinning species, they are often predated on by small mammals during the winter months.Males are active in sunshine and are seen flying swiftly and erratically over heather in search of newly emerged females. These stay concealed low down in the vegetation where they can occasionally be seen during the day. Females, which are nocturnal, are also attracted to light in small numbers.  Mid-April to late June..The fully grown caterpillar is green with black hoops containing yellow wart-like spots, and feeds on moorland plants such as heather (Calluna) and bramble (Rubus).
Habitat	Emperor Moths are spectacular moths associated with heaths, bogs and moorland. , it has large eye markings which scare off predators.
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Images	By jean-pierre Hamon (Own work) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons