Prague, July 18 (CTK) – A rare Malagasy butterfly, dubbed comet moth for its prolonged wings, has hatched in the greenhouse of the Botanical Garden in Prague after 13 years, the garden’s spokeswoman Darina Miklovicova told CTK today.
The night butterfly, Argema mittrei, ranks among the saturniids family. In the wild, it lives in Madagascar’s rainforests only.
The botanical garden imported its cocoons from a Malagasy butterfly farm.
“Its wingspan can reach an impressive 18 centimetres, which makes the butterfly one of the largest in the world,” said Eva Smrzova, curator of the annual butterfly exhibition in the Fata Morgana greenhouse.
The comet moth holds has the longest “spurs,” or prolonged terminal edges of its lower wings, in the world.
“The males have the spurs up to 20 centimetres long,” Smrzova said.
The botanical garden has another dozen of cocoons and it expects further comet butterfly specimen to decorate the greenhouse interior soon.
rtj/dr/ms
