Woman Notices A Fancy Moth In Her Backyard, Turns Out It's The Cosmoth

As summer's approaching, more and more people are turning to the world outside. Especially after spending weeks and months at home during the lockdown. And while most people are finding the usual flora and fauna that you'd expect outside, some have come across more exciting specimens. Like digital director, author, and podcaster Rebecca Lavoie, who recently stumbled upon a colorful visitor.

On May 21, Lavoie shared a photo on her Twitter feed with a caption that read "This moth exists in nature and it’s ON MY DECK." The image showed a beautiful yellow-and-pink moth that's the complete opposite of the most common types we see around. When you think of the word "moth," you usually picture a little grey fella that flies into the light at night. Not an exotic-looking being that looks like a ball of yellow cotton.

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Rebecca kept posting updates on the situation as more and more people showed interest and it wasn't long before the tweet thread exploded, with her initial post getting 565K likes. A day later, Lavoie noticed another rosy moth just casually chilling with the first one (and it seemed like they were following the social distancing guidelines to a T).

The moth that Rebecca came across outside her house is a rosy maple moth (sometimes called a Cosmoth) and for those bug nerds that like Latin—Dryocampa rubicunda. The moth species is local to North America and they are characterized by (you guessed it) their beautiful rose and yellow colors. As the name suggests, these moths like chilling in maple trees, so if you live in North America and near maple trees, you have a higher chance of coming across these beautiful creatures than the rest of us.