Our Puriri Moth

Mrs Palmer brought a puriri moth into our classroom today.  It had broken a leg so it couldn't fly!  It was beautiful.  The moth lay eggs into Mrs Palmer's hand.

 

Puriri moths hatch as caterpillars and spend a few months feeding on fungi on the forest floor  They then climb up into a tree and burrow inside, feeding on the sap of the tree.  After seven years, the moth emerges, mates, lays eggs and dies after two days.  

 

We placed the eggs in the leaf litter of the bush behind LC 15 and hope they hatch.