Jeweled Moth
The Jeweled Moth is a species of moth found on the island nation of Kimiri and the islands and coastal regions surrounding it. The people of Kimiri believe that when these moths land on a person or in their flower box or home, the moth's color foretells of good or bad times ahead.
Good
- White:This color foretells the person or a loved one of theirs, will experience good luck or good fortune in the near future.
- Red: This color foretells the person or a loved one of theirs, will experience good health in the near future.
- Blue:This color foretells the person or a loved one of theirs, will experience increased fertility in the near future in either crops or pregnancy.
- Purple:This color foretells a person or a loved one of theirs, will recieve protection in the near future from Lyvona herself.
- Pink: This color foretells a person or a loved one of theirs, will experiences great happiness in the near future.
- Gold: This color foretells a person or loved one will experience great wisdom in the near future.
Bad
- Black:This color warns the person or a loved one of theirs, will encounter rune magic or a rune caster in the near future.
- Grey:This color warns the person or a loved one of theirs, will experience bad luck or misfortune in the near future.
- Yellow:This color warns the person or a loved one of theirs will experience great danger in the enar future.
- Green: This color warns the person or a loved one of theirs will experience a terrible illness in the near future.
- Brown: This color warns the person or a loved one of theirs will experience a death in the near future.
- Orange:This color warns the person or a loved one of theirs will experience a great tragedy in the near future.
Like with many other things the Kimirian people do, other nations such as Aryia, view their practice of believing the color of a moth's wings telling the future to be backward and primitive.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The Jeweled Moth has two broad, round forewings and two long tapering hindwings; both have eyespots on them. Additionally, they have two eyes, six legs, a short, thick, body divided into three part; head, thorax, and abdomen, and two feathered antennae. The females have thicker and heavier bodies than the males.
Biological Traits
Both male and female adults are similar in size, though the female's body is thicker and heavier while the male's antenna is more feathered. As a caterpillar, they are covered in hair, spiny tubercles, and has a yellow stripe on each side.
Genetics and Reproduction
Like all moths, the Jeweled Moth reproduces via egg laying. The female attracts a mate by releasing a pheromone to let males know its ready to mate, the male attaches to the female and fertilizes the eggs internally. The female will then lay 400-600 fertilized eggs 4-7 eggs at a time on the undersides of leaves. These eggs will then incubate for 8-13 days.
Growth Rate & Stages
Egg:
Its an egg. Tiny, yellow, oval with a flat bottom. Stage lasts 8-13 days.
Larve: Tiny and incredibly vulnerable, the newly hatched caterpillar emerges from the egg and immediately begins to consume the leaf its egg was laid on. During this initial feeding, they molt twice before moving on to a different plant. On average, they will molt five times before they cocoon. After their final molt, these caterpillars are typically 5.5 inches long and have a bright green color with numerous spikes running along its body. It usually takes around 3-4 weeks for it to grow to its full size.
Pupa: After reaching its full length, the caterpillar is ready to pupate. Hanging from a branch, the caterpillar creates a long and slender, double walled cocoon using its silk and leaves. It typically takes them 12 hours to finish building their cocoon. They will then stay in their new home for the next 10-14 days.
Adult: Emerging from its cocoon, the adult's abdomen is swollen, and its wings are shriveled and weak. It will spend the first 24-hours of its life waiting for its wings to dry and pumping hemolymph from its abdomen to its wings. Once its wings are dry and filled with hemolymph, their wingspan reaches a massive 12 inches. The adult then spends the rest of its life, roughly eight and a half months, eating and mating.
Ecology and Habitats
Tropical and coastal regions that don't get too cold.
Dietary Needs and Habits
They eat nectar and sap from flowering plants and trees, bird droppings, animal dung, pollen, or rotting fruit.
Biological Cycle
The Jeweled Moth transforms from a caterpillar to a moth by building a cocoon and undergoing pupation.
Additional Information
Social Structure
When they first hatch out of their eggs and until their second molting, the Jeweled Moth is a very social creature but, after that, they are solitary only seeking out others when looking for a mate.
Uses, Products & Exploitation
The Jeweled Moth is a silk moth whose silk can be used in the production of clothing. The people of Kimiri will use the cocoons of the moths once they've hatched, but they refuse to use the method of boiling silk producing worms and caterpillars used by other nations because they consider the moth sacred.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Kimiri and the islands and coastal regions around it.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
As a caterpillar, the Jeweled Moth has poor vision that can only differentiate dark from light. As an adult moth, their eyesight is better, with them being able to see images as well as see ultraviolet light.
Their sense of touch is sensitive as both a caterpillar and an adult as both have sensory hairs that relay information about the environment back to the moth's brain. These hairs also tell the adult information about the wind while it's flying.
The caterpillar's small antenna sense smells while their mouthparts are only able to differentiate between what it should and should not eat. The adult moths have sense receptors embedded along their entire bodies that are used to 'sniff' out flowers. They taste their food through taste receptors in their feet that can taste the sugar in a flower's nectar as well as tell the moth if what they are tasting is something they should or shouldn't eat. Females also use these receptors to find host plants they can lay their eggs on.
It is unknown if the caterpillars have a sense of hearing at all. The adults, however, have very sensitive hearing that can listen to the ultrasonic noises of bats that hunt them. Its ears are incredibly simple, consisting of only a pair of eardrums found on either side of its flank.
Scientific Name
Lepidoptera
Lifespan
10 months
Conservation Status
The Jeweled Moth is not endangered but, the Kimirian people treat these moths with great respect, going so far as to plant the flowers they believe the moths like the best in their flower boxes and create gardens specifically for the moths.
Average Weight
30 grams
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
The Jeweled Moth gets its name from its ability to change its coloring to a number of vivid colors at will: red, pink, blue, green, yellow, orange, gold, brown, purple, black, white, and grey.
Wingspan
12 inches
Wing surface area
46.5 square inches
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