Attacus atlas (1) Giant Moth Insect Tropical Night Butterfly Saturnid Saturniidae

Attacus atlas Male one wing lenght cm 10-11.5 Giant Moth Insect Tropical Night Butterfly Saturnid, the largest moth in the world.
Family: Saturniidae.
Common name: Atlas Moth.

Attacus atlas (Linnaeus, 1758) is a moth belonging to Saturniidae family, widespread in the tropical forests of Asia, particularly the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia.
With its 30 cm wingspan it is one of the largest species in the world and owes its name to the special design of its wings, reminiscent of the colors of the homonymous snake.
The adult only lives a few days, during which do not feed it uses the reserves accumulated during the larval stage and devoted himself only coupling that can last a whole day.
Subsequently, the female lays up to 200 eggs, which hatch after about 12 days. After hatching, the young caterpillars begin feeding and continue to grow for a period of 90 days, after which, reached the maximum size, they begin metamorphosis, racchiudendosi in a silk cocoon and generally using a leaf as a support, to become his inside a chrysalis and finally fuoriuscirne after a month as adult specimen.
It is considered one of the most beautiful tropical plants, and is relatively easy to breed in captivity.
The cocoons Attacus atlas, made up of many strands of silk, are used to obtain a yarn quite robust named "Silk Zagara".