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Nature's Wonders Sneak Peek Thread

sanbie

Noteworthy
Contributing Artist
Gorgeous moths Ken...would like everything of yours lol...but the falling Australian dollar makes it hard!
 

LisaB

HW3D Vice President & Queen Bee
Staff member
Co-Founder
Ken, are any of your moths "wax moths"? They are a beekeepers nemesis.
 

Ken Gilliland

Extraordinary
HW3D Exclusive Artist
Ken, are any of your moths "wax moths"? They are a beekeepers nemesis.

Doing a little research it appears there's two moths; Galleria mellonella (greater wax moth) and Achroia grisella (lesser wax moth). Both are small gray moths.
Their diet consists of honey, beeswax, stored pollen, bee shell casings, and in some cases bee brood. Tunneling through honeycombs will not only provide food, but also protect the larvae from the defending worker bees.

I'm guessing the Death's-head Hawkmoth (from my base set) probably fits into that profile... and yes, the Death's Head Hawkmoth is the "silence of the Lambs" moth as well. Here's my Field Guide description:

It has a wingspan of up to 130 mm (5.1 inches). The skull-like pattern on it's back has fostered superstitious fears of the supernatural and evil. The moths' sharp, mouse-like squeaking intensify this perception. It is nocturnal, and very fond of honey; they can mimic the scent of honey bees so that they can enter a hive unharmed to get honey. Their tongue, which is stout and very strong, enables them to pierce the wax cells and suck the honey out. This species occurs throughout almost the entire Oriental region, from India, Pakistan and Nepal to the Philippines, and from southern Japan and the southern Russian Far East to Indonesia, where it attacks colonies of several different honey bee species. It has recently become established on the Hawaiian Islands.
 

LisaB

HW3D Vice President & Queen Bee
Staff member
Co-Founder
Yes! Those are the little &$/):)$;&:mad:@/'s that tunneled their way through our hives. Grrrrrr.

Good to know they are small and gray for all the damage they do!
 

Lyne

Distinguished
HW Honey Bear
OH my gosh! Always learning new stuff!! How interesting...but NOT fun for Lisa, who I take it HAS honey hives... (faintly remembers her speaking of it somewhere)...
 

sanbie

Noteworthy
Contributing Artist
I know...someone will say something like...but it's on sale...I say....I need give-away prices! :(
 

Lorraine

The Wicked Witch of the North
I'm like that too Sanbie, the exchange rate is down to 65c here. If I buy things on sale and with my points I nearly break even. Has curtailed my spending a lot. But I give myself $10 p/w as my 3d budget and Vol 2 will be what I spend it on, budget or no budget...can't wait for our NZ moth :)
 

Ken Gilliland

Extraordinary
HW3D Exclusive Artist
...can't wait for our NZ moth :)

I am finding that the Puriri Moth (Aenetus virescens) has a large variety of choices... male and female have significant differences and the moth depending on the season has different coloration. The female appears more dramatic with black leopard-like spots on the fronts of the forewings and translucent hindwings, so that's going to be my primary choice for the set. There's a chance the male (green wings with some subtle white markings on the forewings) will be included in the set or as a freebie... we'll see...

The other moth from my original picks is going to be very challenging to my model-- The Chinese Moon Moth is sort of an extreme version of the Luna with Hindwing tails that are twice as long. I'm going to try it do the wings today-- if that won't work, I'm inclined to choice another species... top on my list is
the Six Spot Burnet or the Lily Moth.
 

Lorraine

The Wicked Witch of the North
I am finding that the Puriri Moth (Aenetus virescens) has a large variety of choices... male and female have significant differences and the moth depending on the season has different coloration. The female appears more dramatic with black leopard-like spots on the fronts of the forewings and translucent hindwings, so that's going to be my primary choice for the set. There's a chance the male (green wings with some subtle white markings on the forewings) will be included in the set or as a freebie... we'll see...

The other moth from my original picks is going to be very challenging to my model-- The Chinese Moon Moth is sort of an extreme version of the Luna with Hindwing tails that are twice as long. I'm going to try it do the wings today-- if that won't work, I'm inclined to choice another species... top on my list is
the Six Spot Burnet or the Lily Moth.

Typical...kiwis are always difficult, it's on account of us living upside down and the blood always rushing to our heads ;) :inverted:
 

Ken Gilliland

Extraordinary
HW3D Exclusive Artist
Typical...kiwis are always difficult, it's on account of us living upside down and the blood always rushing to our heads ;) :inverted:

I'm assuming you're okay with my choices (female and maybe male; both green). I was 'talking out loud' in my previous post to make sure those were okay with you since you requested them ;)

As for the other choice(s),... the Chinese Moon Moth is unhappy with the current model setup and UVs, so it's off my list for now. As a backup, I really wanted to do the Lily Moth but there's only a couple photographs with none showing the abdomen underside or hindwings and scant scientific information/descriptions to boot, so it's the Six-spot Burnet that gets the spot. That actually is a good choice because it's a daytime moth (which I have very few of) and it's loves coneflower (which Lisa has a model of :) ).

FlintHawk (one of my betatesters) has given me a wishlist which could easily fill another volume (Madagascan Sunset Moth, White-spotted Sable, Lygodium Spider Moth, Idalus herois, Leaf Roller Moth, Pale Green Awlet, Rosy Maple Moth and more). I'll probably do a third volume eventually, but really want to get back to some birds first.
 
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JOdel

Dances with Bees
HW Honey Bear
I have fond memories of catching those little golden brown ones that seem to love lantana. I *think* they were daytime moths. But they could have been butterflies. They were common little things. But children could play catch and release with them very easily.
 

Ken Gilliland

Extraordinary
HW3D Exclusive Artist
Rounding out the week, I've managed to get all the Volume 2 moths done, now material tweaking to make the super-sized ones and a DS version... I will be moving back to birds for my next projects although there's a slight detour planned before I go back to my Birds of Asia sets. In doing these moths, I got an idea for a render and don't have the bird I want to feature with the moths (yet)... so hence next week will start one of my 'wild hair/whim' projects. I've obviously been avoiding mentioning the species because I want it to be a surprise... I will say it's an unique bird that will require it's own model (it can't be remixed) and I'll do all 5 species and maybe the two subspecies of it ;)



and the whole set according to size... the largest, the Atlas Moth, has a 250mm (9.8 inches) wingspan and the smallest, the Six-spot Burnet, at 30-40 mm (1.2-1.6 inches)

 
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