InsectNet forum

It is just staying still on a pillar of my house and not moving for two hours.

It’s Attacus atlas-male, one of the biggest moth.

Paul K wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 2:10 pm It’s Attacus atlas-male, one of the biggest moth.

Is it common in a Malaysian tropical rainforest climate?

Yes, it is common across SE Asia, and its larvae feed on many different species of plants. I see them on different plants in my garden here in Chiang Mai sometimes. The female is even larger than the male.

Baldie wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 11:52 am It is just staying still on a pillar of my house and not moving for two hours.

If there is a light nearby it will have been attracted to it during the night, and it will spend all day sitting still, then fly away as it gets dark.

Adam.

adamcotton wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 7:36 pm Yes, it is common across SE Asia, and its larvae feed on many different species of plants. I see them on different plants in my garden here in Chiang Mai sometimes. The female is even larger than the male.

Baldie wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 11:52 am It is just staying still on a pillar of my house and not moving for two hours.

If there is a light nearby it will have been attracted to it during the night, and it will spend all day sitting still, then fly away as it gets dark.

Adam.

It has been hanging still on the pillar during the evening and it's been there for sixteen hours and forty five minutes till now. Now it's already late at night which is 4:45 AM with the lights off and it's still staying there and not moving.
Does it want something? Like waiting for a mate,resting or even hibernating(?)

Baldie wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 8:44 pm Does it want something? Like waiting for a mate,resting or even hibernating(?)

Both sexes of these moths do not feed and only live for about 1 week, the female slightly longer, so they definitely do not hibernate. Their only 'purpose' is to mate and for females to lay eggs. When a female emerges from its cocoon it will 'call' males by releasing vaporous pheromones from the abdomen. The large feathery (pectinate) antennae of the male detect these pheromones in the air, sometimes from quite far away, and then males will fly to the female to mate.

It is possible the male will be conserving energy while waiting to detect the pheromones released by a female but they generally fly at a particular time of night, so it could wait there for 24 hours after arrival.

Adam.