🤔What distinguishes the raspa silkmoth (Sphingicampa raspa) from other silkmoths? While other silkmoth species spin a silk cocoon and attach to branches or plant stems when they transition to adulthood, the raspa silkmoth metamorphoses down in the soil. Underground, it creates chambers by tying pieces of soil and humus together with silk. 🏜️This moth inhabits hot, arid areas in Arizona, West Texas, and in Mexico, where there’s usually very little precipitation. Changing weather patterns and extreme weather events caused by climate change threatens populations of raspa silkmoths and other southwestern moths and butterflies. 📸The Museum's upcoming special exhibition Extinct and Endangered: Insects in Peril, opens next Wednesday, on June 22. It will feature uniquely powerful macrophotography by Levon Biss (@levonbiss), highlighting 40 incredible but imperiled species from specimens in the Museum's world-class research collection, including the raspa silkmoth, in large-format photographs, some as large as 4.5 by 8 feet! Link in bio for more details. Photo: © Levon Biss #AnimalFacts #NaturalHistory #amnh #photography #macrophotography #silkmoths #entomology #RaspaSilkmoth #bugs #insects #nature #dyk (at American Museum of Natural History) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce6GQuLLd7E/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=