Story:
Meet the Venezuelan Poodle Moth! Have you ever seen a more fluffy bundle of fluffy fluffiness? 😀
Needle felted model of the ever popular Venezuelan poodle moth.
The moth was first discovered and photographed in 2009 and is believed to be a new species. It’s thought to belong to the lepidopteran genus Artace.
Analysis:
Picture message of this strange and cute insect claiming it as a new species called the Venezuelan Poodle Moth has been circulating since August 2012 and had in fact become an internet sensation at that time. Although many believed this picture of Poodle Moth to be a photoshop creation, it is possibly a new species discovered by Dr. Arthur Anker of Kyrgyzstan.
Firstly, as suggested in the message, the picture shown in message is not a real moth and appears like a needle felted model of what is called the Venezuelan Poodle Moth, which is shown in the image above. The picture was taken in Venezuela on 1 January 2009 by Dr. Arthur Anker of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, who shared it in his Flickr stream album ‘Venezuelan Gran Sabana‘(region), which showcases several other bizarre, strange, horrifying and also cute insects. He called it as “Poodle moth (Artace sp, perhaps A. cribaria)“, Poodle being a breed of cute and fluffy formal dog.
This seemingly new species of moth, with the features of a bird, dog and moth has in fact baffled the scientists as well. Beyond the available picture, there is not much else known about the species currently. Cryptozoologist Karl Shuker who investigated into this picture found a similar white and fuzzy creature known as Diaphora mendica, or Muslin Moth, a member of the lepidopteran family Arctiidae. It also closely resembles to another Wild Silkmoth called Bombyx mori. You can see and compare the pictures of these moth species from images.
Although the antenna, bulged eyes, and front legs of the moth appear distinctive and somewhat unreal, considering the fact that there will be thousands of new insects discovered every year, it would be possible that Dr. Arthur Anker’s Venezuelan poodle moth could be one of it too. And unless the actual specimen is in hand for genetic analysis, it would be difficult to classify the genus of this cute looking species.
Hoax or Fact:
Mixture of hoax and facts.
References:
Venezuelan Poodle Moth Confuses Scientists
Bizarre poodle moth fascinates and frightens the masses online
Poodle moth (Artace sp, perhaps A. cribaria), Venezuela
Muslin Moth Diaphora mendica
Bombyx mori
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