Wikipedia:Valued picture candidates/Image:Moth September 2008-3.jpg

Pine Processionary Moth

Original - The Pine Processionary Moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) is a forest pest, causing serious damage to pines while at the larval stage. This one is an adult male and is holding its wings upright to get them dry, after being immerged in water. Notice the bristle springing from the underside of the hindwing (frenulum), whose function is to link the wings together, and the plumose antennae, characteristic of the males. The white hindwings, the dark mark on the underside of the forewing and the frontal protuberance are distinctive features of the species.

Reason

a detailed and high quality depiction of a Pine Processionary Moth. The unusual position of the wings (which are drying after the moth was immersed) and teh fact they have lost most of their scales permit to depict some characteristic features of the family (the wing venation and the stout body) and of the species (the white hindwing, the dark mark on the underside of the forewing and the frontal protuberance). Also, this particular view clearly shows a distinctive feature of most moths, the frenulum, which is a bristle springing from the underside of the hindwing and running forward to be held in a small catch (also visible) on the underside of the forewing, the function of the mechanism being to held the wings together when in flight.

Articles this image appears in

Moth, Thaumetopoeidae , Pine Processionary

Creator

Alvesgaspar (talk)

• Support as nominator --Alvesgaspar (talk) 22:08, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
• Support No real problems. MER-C 10:36, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
• Support Good EV. Sophus Bie ^(talk) 01:37, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
• Support. howcheng {chat} 06:09, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Promoted File:Moth September 2008-3.jpg ~ ωαdεstεr16_«talk^stalk» 18:38, 3 May 2009 (UTC)