The Chinese Moon Moth or Chinese Luna Moth (Actias dubernardi) is a moth of the Family Saturniidae

Saturniidae

The Saturniidae, commonly known as saturniids, are among the largest and most spectacular of the moths. They form a family of Lepidoptera, with an estimated 1,300 to 1,500 described species worldwide...

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Life cycle

It takes 70–85 days from an egg to the adult, depending on the temperature and humidity conditions.

Egg

Female lays up to 120 eggs, she doesn't care about the place of ovaposit. The egg is oval-shaped, 1,5mm x 1mm; whitegrey colour, firmly stuck to branches or sides of the cage that the female had been kept in. 4-5mm long caterpillars hatch after 10-14 days, the warmer and the higher the humidity, the quicker it happens.

Larva

Newly hatched larva is of black colour with hairs, it sheds its skin 4-5 times in its larval stage. Until the second instar it is orangebrown, after which it changes into beautiful green with silver spots. It is hairy in all its stages, and it feeds on pine tree. Fully-grown caterpillar is 60-75mm long. It spins its brownish cocoon on the soil, but more often among pine needles. They are easy to rear, so long as you can get them to eat in the 1st instar. The species comes from high mountaineous regions, so it is quite cold-hardy. It is best reared in-doors, sleeved on a small pine-tree.

Pupa

The chrystalis is about 35mm long,and the imago emerges from the cocoon after about 4 weeks, dependant on the temperature and humidity.

Adult

An adult moth's life is short, no longer than 10 – 12 days (females live longer due to their fat reserves). Pairing is easy, in medium-sized cage.

Host Plants

Pine tree - Pinus sp. Caterpillars rather like Pinus sylvestris, but they will also eat Pinus nigra.