Anzac Day – Some people fear war, I fear moths.

Last night Craig and I were watching Grey’s Anatomy (oh how I love it) when an ad came on that featured a girl (and then a boy) being terrorised by a moth.
Craig : oh come on! It’s just a moth
Sarah : Just a Moth? JUST A MOTH? They’re flying rats with wings! Gah.
Craig : but … it’s just a moth…
Sarah : no they divebomb and they’re furry and gah the huge ones ughhhh
Craig : Huge ones? They’re tiny
Sarah : Uh, have you seen the ones as big as your, well, my hand? HAVE YOU?
Craig : ha! As big as your hand??
Sarah : … yes!
Craig : no … really?
Sarah : … YES! As BIG as MY HAND. I’ve seen them twice and the first time I freaked out shaking for 45 minutes before crying and the next time it kept me from the kitchen because I could see it on the chair and it looked like it was breathing and they’re so awful
Craig : huh.
Sarah : I’m going to google “Giant Terror Moths” tomorrow and prove it.

But “Giant Terror Moths” only brought back reviews of Blood Beast Terror, a 1969 movie about a creature that is capable of transforming back and forth between a giant Death Head moth and a beautiful woman. The creature masquerades as his daughter when she is in her human incarnation and feeds on the blood of her victims when she is in the moth form. which sounds really fucking scary but not exactly real, or native to New Zealand (I hope).



Puriri moth
Aenetus virescens
Of the more than 1500 different moths in New Zealand, the biggest and most spectacular is the puriri or ghost moth of the North Island.
The female’s wingspan can be up to 15-centimetres, its pale velvety-green colour very ghost-like.

A GIANT MOTH also known as the GHOST MOTH ?? I think my fear is justified.
Also – wing span = 15cm? Sarah’s hand span = 16cm.
So it is Definitely AS BIG AS MY HAND.

It’s no better when the wings are furled around its fat furry creepy moth body.




Apparently all these years Craig has thought my fear of moths (the same fear that has brought me to tears at times) is based on


The Silver Y moth Chrysodeixis eriosoma
Wing span = 36 mm

He has no faith in me at all.

Sarah : So wait, all this time you’ve thought my fear of moths stemmed from those tiny furry Kauri* moths?
Craig : Well, you’ve been known to think some crazy things.

* Please note : Googling for Kauri Moths bore no fruit (so to speak) and so I had to wade through photo after photo of horrifying furry moths until I guessed at something that looked familiar. I now have extremely tense arms because moths tend to make my arms twitch in disgust (the fear is in my head and my stomach).
The things I do for you, I swear.