# Do Moths Have Fangs?



## Mt Spokane Photography (Jul 21, 2011)

Taken this morning on my screen door with 100mm L Notice the slightly out of focus "Fangs" accross the front of his face. I took these handheld with a flash and difuser to get as much depth of field as I could. It was shady on our porch. Much of the USA is hot, but we are 10 degrees below normal in the Northwest.


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## Joost (Jul 21, 2011)

I like your first picture, but the second one has too much noise in it.


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## Hesbehindyou (Jul 21, 2011)

Fascinating. I wonder if they're used to keep the furry antennae in good condition? On a similar note, I snapped this photo of a house spider and was surprised to see they've got lots of little teeth as well as the two big fangs:


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## dr croubie (Jul 22, 2011)

I'd say that looks like some kind of a Hawk Moth, but i'm not sure if you get them over in the States. (I'll break out my backup hdd later and find an old pic i'm thinking of that looks like the one you've got there).

Got a shot of face-on to see the fangs better? I've no idea what they could be...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jul 22, 2011)

dr croubie said:


> I'd say that looks like some kind of a Hawk Moth, but i'm not sure if you get them over in the States. (I'll break out my backup hdd later and find an old pic i'm thinking of that looks like the one you've got there).
> 
> Got a shot of face-on to see the fangs better? I've no idea what they could be...



I'm not sure what it is, I did not take a photo of the front.

They are common, my son took a photo with our G12 the other day, holding the camera with one hand, and moth in the other. He did not know to turn it to the macro setting, so its a bit oof.


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## Sunnystate (Jul 22, 2011)

No fangs, but they have long tubular tongues coiled when not in use. Just like butterflies they drink nectar.


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## K-amps (Sep 19, 2011)

Sunnystate said:


> No fangs, but they have long tubular tongues coiled when not in use. Just like butterflies they drink nectar.



Dreamy! What lens did you used fo rthe first pic?


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## ScottyP (Feb 18, 2012)

"Do chickens have large talons?"

-Napoleon Dynamite


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## DianeK (Feb 18, 2012)

No match to the wonderful photos here, but thought I would contribute a couple of clearwing images, coiled and uncoiled.
Diane


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## Kernuak (Feb 18, 2012)

It looks like the front pair of legs to me. With a bit of digging, it is an eyed hawk moth, which seems to occur in Europe and N. America. The image on this page also shows more depth of field to confirm that the legs point forward.

http://www.norfolkbirding.com/mothpics.html

It's more likely to be the closely related twin spotted sphinx (Smerinthus jamaicensis)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smerinthus_jamaicensis


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## Wideopen (Apr 8, 2012)

Beautiful macro shots!


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