Monster moth so heavy it struggles to fly discovered at primary school building site – World News

An enormous moth as big as two fists put together has been discovered at a building site belonging to a primary school.

An unnamed tradesman found the huge creature, which is so huge it struggles to fly, as he carried out construction work at Mount Cotton State School, south of Brisbane in the Redlands.

The school, which has more than 600 pupils, branded the find “amazing” as they posted about it on their social media channel.

Principal Meagan Steward said the moth was as big as two fists put together and while the kids must have been impressed by the find, they are also used to peculiar animals coming from the nearby rainforest.

The moth, which is the heaviest of its species and can weigh up to 30g, has now been returned to the rainforest, news.au. reports.

“We weren’t at school when the builders found the moth but they took some photos for us,” Ms Steward told news.au.

“We have a (year) 4-5 composite class that live in that new building, and the teacher showed the students a picture of the giant moth and they used it as stimulus for a creative piece of writing.

“The class brainstormed what could happen and they decided on a giant moth invasion.”

The moth is said to be so heavy it struggles to fly with females often just climbing a tree and waiting for the male to find them.

It has been identified by Queensland Museum’s head of entomology Dr Christine Lambkin as a wood moth, usually found between North Queensland and southern NSW.

She told the news outlet the species is “very interesting” as little is known about what the insects do in their first year of life.

What is definite is that they are a grub of about 4cm that burrows into eucalyptus trees, spending a year or so eating.