Gigantic Moth So Big It Can Barely Fly Discovered At School In Australia

As small caterpillars, the invertebrates have purple and white banding and bore into the trunks of smooth-barked eucalypts in parks and gardens. They lose the banding as they grow into larger grubs. Lambkin said the adult female moths don't feed and live on fats stored as larvae while feeding inside the tree trunk. The first time we see them is when they're over 2.5cm long and thick as a lead pencil, she said. The entomologist said little was known about the first year of the larval stage, which lasts for about three years. The adult female moths can be up to 15cm long. There are about 60 species of wood moth in Australia, according to the Queensland Museum, but not all are as large as the giant wood moth and not all feed on eucalypts. The builders took a photo of their find before returning the moth to the rainforest.