The gold underside of this Pluto Sphinx Moth was awesome in the sunlight!

I tried really hard to get a nice photograph of the top of the moth, but it seems to have a natural green camouflage that makes it look fuzzy no matter how carefully I take the picture, as these three photos demonstrate. The Malachite and Julia butterflies look similarly fuzzy on the underside of their wings.

The top photo shows the speckles of gold scales better, but the moth's antennae were closed. I gently coaxed them open for this next shot, and for a moment it cooperated and held them there:

I'm hoping to find another Pluto Sphinx Moth caterpillar to raise because this moth has curly wings, and it isn't supposed to. The one that emerged first (on page 1) was perfect, but it emerged from its cocoon mid-week in December so I was at work the whole time the lighting was good enough to take pictures of it. I got the one decent photo on page one, then let it go thinking I'd have ample time to photograph this one over the weekend. Well, it emerged, and I had ample time, but an unusual specimen; the tip of the right wing curls up, and the tip of the left wing curls down. Grumble grumble.

Now the moth is on a plant instead of my finger. I couldn't get decent shots inside (see page 3 for my photography rant about this moth), so I finally had to risk outdoor shots. The problem with that is that this particular bug flies, and I don't. I spent some time chasing it during this photo shoot, and eventually it flew faster than I could follow so it's a happy free moth now.