BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE

(Linnaeus, 1758)

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Lepidoptera

Genus: Attacus

Species: A. atlas

Bio sapiens Attacus atlas, the atlas moth, is a huge saturniid moth endemic to the forests of Asia. The varieties were first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758  10th edition of Systema Naturae. The body is disproportionately short compared to the wings. The upper side of the wings is red-brown with a pattern of black, pink, white and triangular, and, purple lines, scale-less windowpanes bordered in black. 

The undersides of the sides are paler. Both forewings have a striking addition at the tip, marked so as to resemble the head of a snake, a resemblance which is exaggerated by the motion of the wings when the moth is confronted by potential predators. Atlas moths are named after either Atlas, the titan of Greek mythology (due to their size), or their map-like projection patterns. In Hong Kong, the Cantonese means "snake's head moth", referring to the prominent extension of the forewing which carries a resemblance to the head of a snake.