By Alana Bailey

Many people shudder when they see a moth, but love butterflies, which does not really make sense. Moths may have a nasty habit of sometimes flying into people, but they are just as fascinating as butterflies. Both belong to the order Lepidoptera, of which approximately 90% are moths and 10% butterflies. New species are being discovered all the time.

This time of year, cream-striped owl moths (Cyligramma latona) are found throughout Africa. We sometimes find them in our homes, campers come across them in tents and even the airline Safair recently shared a photo of one on a plane with the humorous comment that they have finally tracked down the “travel bug”.

Cream-striped owl moths are particularly beautiful and quite large – they have a wingspan of up to 10 cm. Their larvae feed on acacia trees.

There are moths that are active during the day and others at night. Like butterflies, moths play an important role in pollinating plants.

Because they are rich in protein, all kinds of animals feed on them, from birds, bats, frogs, lizards and small mammals, to even humans! To scare off predators, moths use defence mechanisms such as the spots on the cream-striped owl moth’s wings that should make an enemy believe that he has now run into an aggressive owl and should rather not attack it. Other species are masters of camouflage and can, for example, imitate tree bark. There are even moths that make ultrasonic sounds that confuse bats.

If you want to attract moths, you can of course just leave a light on at night, but if that does not work, you can also mix ripe bananas, molasses and beer, paint it on trees and see who shows up for the feast!

Photo: Foto: By Hectonichus – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19179710