#ghost moths

[histsciart]

Labyrinth Ghost Moths

Labyrinth ghost moths (Abantiades labyrinthicus) illustrated by Helena Scott for Australian Lepidoptera and their Transformations, Drawn from the Life, Vol. 1 (1864).

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[thelaithlyworm]

I stole a page from Wu Xie's private notes because I thought it was pretty.

[CW: insects, tryptophobia, harm to a human]

[ID Landscape page showing 'pencil' sketches of a moth and web, some small with folded wings, one large with outspread wings partially drawn in mottled glory. Centre bottom is the sketch of a hand with mysterious pockmarks. There are spots and scrapes of a red-brown substance. Title reads, 'Ghost Moths (avoid)'. End ID]

// Image Credits

Mystic Nine screencaps, heavily edited "Hand, Palm, Fingers" by Alexander Lesnitsky, Pixabay "Nest Wasp Insect" by notre_planete, Pixabay Pixabay stock image (spotted paper)

// Some of the details, in large:

[ID Close-up of spread-winged ghost moth, in bright colours and wide 'brush-strokes' like oil paint. End ID]

[ID Version of the painted moth, now looking like pencil on a white background. End ID]

I'm not going to say there's not stuff about these edits that isn't insanely nitpicky, frustrating, and tedious, but also a big chunk of this is knowing which filters can be slapped onto what and what effect they might have. The 'pencil' is directly derived from the 'oil' with some clean-up with the eraser tool and then copy-pasting some of the left wing to fill in a gap in the right that didn't convert well (that shadowy bit at the bottom.)

[ID 'Sketch' of a hand held palm up with alarming smudges and small pockmarks dotted all over. End ID]

I got those crater textures by converting a picture of a wasp nest to 'pencil' and pairing it down until I got those alarming circles, and then played around with placement. Also... this started as a photo of a hand but I lost the tendons and the palm crease in conversion and rebuilt them from spare parts.

I'm. I'm pretty sure a real graphic designer would be Very Unimpressed by what passes for technique here, but it gets shit done and certainly entertains me.

[Permission to use or remix these images, with or without credit. (Though namedropping the Pixabay sources would be ace.) Please do fold, spindle, or mutilate...]

[platycryptus]

gold-spotted ghost moth (Sthenopis pretiosus)

like other ghost moths (Hepialidae), this species is rarely encountered, probably because they rarely come to lights like other moths. Their larvae feed by burrowing into the roots of ferns, and this one was flying around a fern patch on a hot humid night.

Ghost moths among the most 'primitive’ living moths, and are rather large in size while similar groups consist mainly of tiny species, so-called micromoths. Ghost moths usually only become conspicuous when they gather in mating swarms at dusk, beating their wings independently more like a lacewing or dragonfly than like other large moths.

(Massachusetts, 7/7/22)

[rattyexplores]

✤ Undetermined Hepialid moth - Hepialidae

Closest ID: Aenetus scotti

20/02/21