How to identify a luna moth
The luna moth is one of the easiest North American moths to name. Look for a wingspan of roughly 3 to 4.5 inches, soft pale green or seafoam wings, and a thin pink-to-maroon leading edge on the forewings. The standout feature is the pair of long, curving tails trailing from the hindwings. Each of the four wings carries a translucent eyespot ringed in yellow. Those streaming tails are not just decoration: research suggests they spin and flutter in flight to confuse the echolocation of hunting bats, sending the attack toward the expendable tail tips instead of the body.
Where the luna moth lives
Luna moths are an eastern North American species, ranging from the southern edge of Canada down through Florida and west into the eastern Great Plains and Texas. In open observation records the moth turns up most often in North Carolina, Virginia, New York, Maryland, and Texas. They favor hardwood forests and wooded suburbs where their host trees grow, so a yard backed by mature deciduous woods is prime luna habitat.
When luna moths fly
Across most of their range luna moths are on the wing from May through August. In the warm South there can be two or even three broods a year, while the far North usually sees a single early-summer flight. Adults are nocturnal and short-lived, so timing matters: a warm, still, humid night in late spring or early summer gives you the best odds. National Moth Week (July 18 to 26 in 2026) lands right inside the luna's flight season.
Caterpillars, host plants, and life cycle
All the eating happens in the caterpillar stage. Luna caterpillars are plump and bright green with faint yellow stripes and small red or orange spots, and they feed on the leaves of hickory, walnut, sweetgum, white birch, and persimmon, among other hardwoods. After several weeks of munching, the caterpillar spins a thin silk cocoon wrapped in a leaf, often dropping to the leaf litter to pupate. The adult that emerges cannot feed at all, so its entire job is to mate and lay eggs within its brief week or so of life.
How to see a luna moth at night
Luna moths come to artificial light, especially short-wavelength ultraviolet. The leading explanation is that bright lights disrupt a moth's flight orientation rather than truly attracting it: moths hold a natural light like the moon at a fixed angle, and a nearby bulb scrambles that compass. To find one, hang a white sheet outdoors and aim a UV (black light) or mercury-vapor lamp at it on a warm, moonless, windless night; UV and mercury-vapor pull in far more silk moths than plain white LED porch lights. Check the sheet repeatedly through the first few hours after dark. Unsure what you found? This site predicts likely species by your location and date rather than identifying a photo, so for a photo ID try What moth is this? and tools like iNaturalist or BugGuide.