Nature: Are you kidding me?

I'm no longer a member of wtf_nature  (I found the community attitude to be irritatingly adolescent), but I bet someone there has posted about the Calyptra moth.  Assuming this wikipedia entry is true and not some kind of hallowe'en season hoax, this is a very interesting animal that I can't believe I just learned about.  Lepitopterans are almost unique among orders of insects for not inspiring disgust or anxiety in the general public.  No one much minds if a butterfly lands on them, unlike, say, a flying cockroach.  Moths are mostly beneath the notice of most people, unless their larvae are eating an apple or an expensive wool suit. 

But then there is Calyptra (apparently), a group of moths that mostly pierce fruit with their drinkng-straw mouthparts to draw out nectar and juice.  Except for a few species which have mouthparts strong and sharp enough to pierce the skin of mammals, in order to drink blood.  These vampire moths don't seem to habitually feed on humans (the wikipedia article says "After human skin has been penetrated it tends to turn red and be sore for the following two to three hours. Despite the wound being more severe than that of a mosquito it is thought that there is no health risk and the moths need not be avoided."    Sure they don't!  Why would you want to avoid a blood sucking moth?

Anyway, if this is all true, I don't know why Calyptra moths aren't known by chldren around the world.  Why don't they have their own "vampire moth" show on Animal Planet?



Are you kidding me?  Of course, the reason I'm posting this is that I know several entomologists read my journal, which is just about the best thing in the world.

EDIT: Apparently I needed to look no further than the unread National Geographics on my table to verify the story.