What Moth is This?

Indonesia is an amazing collection of islands for bird watchers, animal lovers and those who simply enjoy immersing themselves in the beauty of nature and, the island of Bali in the archipelago is no exception. There are literally thousands of species endemic to Indonesia and Bali is fortunate to possess some of these. This was first noticed by naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace the creator of the famous Wallace Line. It runs through the Malay Archipelago, between Borneo and Sulawesi and through the Lombok Strait between Bali (in the west) and Lombok (in the east). I am always in awe at what nature throws my way wherever I travel in Bali and it wasn’t so long ago I was blessed to see one of nature’s magnificent creatures. The only problem being I didn’t know what it was! Sure, I knew it was a Moth of some kind but I had never seen one quite like this. It was the size of a full handspan and delicately beautiful. Perplexed with the task of identifying it, upon return to my multitude of books I scanned through them but to no avail.

I am quite sure they are all over the place on the island and this particular moth we saw just resting in the carpark near Tirtagangga on the east coast. Naturally I asked a few of the locals what it was but they looked at me in an odd manner as if to say it’s-a-fucking-moth…stupid! Feared it might get run over by a car I gently picked it up and placed it in the nearby terrain. So, if any of you out there even know the name of this moth then I would be greatful to hear from you.