Autumnal Moth

Autumnal moths take flight in crisp late-autumn air when most other insects have vanished, resting camouflaged against lichen-draped tree trunks during the day. In northern birch ecosystems, their populations cycle into immense regional outbreaks every nine to ten years, stripping entire mountain forests of their canopy. Surviving the winter exclusively as cold-hardy eggs glued to twigs, the larvae hatch precisely to coincide with the budding of spring leaves.