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Friend or foe - giant moth IDd by Oron as Saturnia pyri, the Great Peacock Moth

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Fleur Pavlidis

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Friend or foe - giant moth IDd by Oron as Saturnia pyri, the Great Peacock Moth
« on: May 31, 2012, 07:17:50 PM »
Mike et al. Should I be worried to find this in the garden?
« Last Edit: June 01, 2012, 07:41:40 AM by Alisdair »
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MGS member, Greece. I garden in Attica, Greece and Mt Goulinas (450m) Central Greece

David Bracey

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Re: Friend or foe
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2012, 08:50:19 PM »
I think it`s the Emperor moth  Eudia pavonia.  One will not do much harm.
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 I have gardened in sub-tropical Florida, maritime UK, continental Europe and the Mediterranean basin, France. Of the 4 I have found that the most difficult climate for gardening is the latter.
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oron peri

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Re: Friend or foe
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2012, 05:50:22 AM »
David and Fleur

By the dark color  of the body, and creamy wide margins of the wings i would say it is Saturnia pyri.
It is the largest moth in the region.
It is fed on Rosaceae, in particularly Almond trees, as David say they cant make any harm.
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Garden Designer, Bulb man, Botanical tours guide.
Living and gardening in Tivon, Lower Galilee region, North Israel.
Min temp 5c Max 42c, around 450mm rain.
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Alisdair

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Re: Friend or foe
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2012, 07:40:03 AM »
What a magnificent creature!
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Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society
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Fleur Pavlidis

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Re: Friend or foe - giant moth IDd by Oron as Saturnia pyri, the Great Peacock Moth
« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2012, 08:30:55 AM »
What a relief. I garden in an almond grove so it can feed all it wants, have babies and colonise. Thanks all - I'll move this out of pests.
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MGS member, Greece. I garden in Attica, Greece and Mt Goulinas (450m) Central Greece
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MikeHardman

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Re: Friend or foe - giant moth IDd by Oron as Saturnia pyri, the Great Peacock Moth
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2012, 11:21:10 AM »
Fleur,
I agree with Oron - Saturnia pyri, the great peacock moth.
There's an excellent document on the species here - http://tpittaway.tripod.com/silk/s_pyr.htm.
Note especially the photos of the larvae - so you can recognize them and leave them alone.
It is a magnificent insect, and I am envious of you! :)
Thanks for posting.
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Mike
Geologist by Uni training, IT consultant, Referee for Viola for Botanical Society of the British Isles, commissioned author and photographer on Viola for RHS (Enc. of Perennials, The Garden, The Plantsman).
I garden near Polis, Cyprus, 100m alt., on marl, but have gardened mainly in S.England
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Fleur Pavlidis

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Re: Friend or foe - giant moth IDd by Oron as Saturnia pyri, the Great Peacock Moth
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2012, 07:00:03 PM »
Thanks for the link, Mike. I've printed out the photos of the caterpillars to stick on the fridge so that I can learn what they look like. Since I couldn't remember the life cycle of moths I looked for information and found this video of a Silkmoth which is the same genus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIhlj3ZMxqg . The caterpillars are very similar in appearance.
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MGS member, Greece. I garden in Attica, Greece and Mt Goulinas (450m) Central Greece
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