{"id":1493,"date":"2025-11-13T10:46:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T08:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lbscience.org\/en\/2025\/11\/08\/did-you-know-the-cyclops-moth-deters-predators\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T04:24:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T02:24:40","slug":"fun-fact-the-cyclops-moth-deters-predators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lbscience.org\/en\/2025\/11\/13\/fun-fact-the-cyclops-moth-deters-predators\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun Fact: The Cyclops Moth Deters Predators"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Polyphemus Moth (<em>Antheraea polyphemus<\/em>) is one of the largest moths in North America\u2014its wingspan reaches 10\u201315 cm! See it in the photo alongside a U.S. penny.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_37931\" style=\"width: 569px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-37931\" class=\"wp-image-37931\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lbscience.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Polyphemus-Moth_credit-Maya-Saar-resized.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"559\" height=\"495\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-37931\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Maya Saar<\/p><\/div>\n<p>For some reason, the moth is named after Polyphemus\u2014the giant Cyclops from Greek mythology who had a single eye in the middle of his forehead. Yet the moth actually has two large purple spots in the center of its hind wings that resemble a pair of eyes. Perhaps whoever named the moth could not count\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The species is found in 48 of the 50 U.S. states, as well as in southern Canada and Mexico. To protect itself, the adult moth folds its forewings forward and often flutters them so that the \u201ceyes\u201d on its hind wings become visible. These false eyes appear to confuse potential predators, who may interpret them as the eyes of a threatening animal. In one intriguing observation, a moth exposed its eyespots in flight and successfully deterred a Blue Jay from catching it.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_37930\" style=\"width: 409px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-37930\" class=\"wp-image-37930\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lbscience.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/polyphemus-caterpillar_Credit-Animalia.bio_.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"399\" height=\"399\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-37930\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Animalia.bio<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The larva\u2014the moth\u2019s juvenile stage\u2014is light green and spiny in appearance. When threatened, it may raise its front body into a Sphinx-like posture, perhaps to alter its shape to look less like a caterpillar. If the attack continues, it produces clicking sounds with its mouthparts and may then regurgitate a liquid with a repulsive taste and smell\u2014all in an effort to avoid predation. Mice and ants have been seen deterred at the sound of the clicks, so the noise may serve to warn predators before the repellent is released [1].<\/p>\n<p>In short, this Cyclops boasts several impressive defense strategies!<\/p>\n<p>Hebrew editing: Smadar Raban<br \/>\nEnglish editing: Elee Shimshoni<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>References:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/edis.ifas.ufl.edu\/publication\/IN945\">AskIFAS, University of Florida<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) is one of the largest moths in North America\u2014its wingspan reaches 10\u201315 cm! See it in the photo alongside a U.S. penny. For some reason, the moth is named after Polyphemus\u2014the giant Cyclops from Greek mythology who had a single eye in the middle of his forehead. Yet the moth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":1495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biology","category-zoology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fun Fact: The Cyclops Moth Deters Predators - Little, Big Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lbscience.org\/en\/2025\/11\/13\/fun-fact-the-cyclops-moth-deters-predators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fun Fact: The Cyclops Moth Deters Predators - Little, Big Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) is one of the largest moths in North America\u2014its wingspan reaches 10\u201315 cm! 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