Well, since it is still too wintery to be blogging about any real live gardening activity, here is another mystery insect I thought I'd post in hopes of identifying since we had such great help last time.
This huge moth (5 inch or 13 cm wingspan) was found on my Aunt's farm in Saskatchewan on June 7, 1992. Since then we have never identified it (or if we did we did not write it down). I plan to get a book out from the library to attempt to identify it but thought I'd post it here in the meantime. Not sure if it is a common or rare moth. I recall we caught it flying around the outdoor house light, where moths are typically found of course. I remember hoards of them around our lights on the farm, but rarely see them in the city here. Not sure if this is a rural-urban difference, declining numbers over time or Calgary's climate.UPDATE: The moth appears to be a male Antheraea polyphemus with common name simply Polyphemus Moth (see discussion and links in comments below). They are relatively common in North America and feed on numerous species of trees and shrubs, not dependent on a single species of plant like the wood wasp we found earlier this winter (see link above). They range from southern Canada to northern Mexico. There is a good possibility there are some in Calgary or perhaps in our own yard. We'll keep an eye out.
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