For the average person, moths are a harmless but somewhat annoying species. They are commonly seen flying around lightbulbs at night and when they accidentally fly toward you, they can be easily swatted away.

There are many different types of moths and they come in a variety of different sizes. The heaviest moth in the world is called the giant wood moth (Endoxyla cinereus).

To nobody’s surprise, these large moths are most commonly found in Australia where they live the vast majority of their 2-3 year life deep inside of a tree as a larvae. Ted Edwards is an honorary fellow of the Australian National Insect Collection. He talked about this with ABC News, saying:

“They stay like that for two or three years, with a central bore right in [the] centre of [the] tree and then just before they turn into a pupa, they cut out a circle of bark … and build a series of defences against ants and other insects.”

When they are ready to emerge, the females only live for a few days. They are unable to eat or drink, so it is clear that their days are numbered. Dr. Christine Lambkin is the Curator of Entomology at Queensland Museum and she said in the same ABC News Interview:

“They only live for a few days as adults. They emerge, they mate, they lay eggs, they die.”

All that is interesting, but the real question is, just how heavy are these moths?

Well, adult females can have a wingspan of 23 centimeters (9 inches). Their total weight can get up to around 30 grams (1.1 ounces). The males are roughly half this size.

So, while they aren’t a threat to humans (or much else), they are a very large moth and are certainly not something that you would want flying toward you at night.

Fortunately, you really don’t have much to worry about when it comes to them flying. As Dr. Lampkin explained:

“They fly very, very poorly. In most cases when they emerge, the females, they just crawl up a local tree or stump of a fence post and sit there and wait for males to find them.”

Make no mistake though, they can fly. Even the males are significantly larger than the moths that most people are used to seeing, and they will fly up to find the females.

So, if you have any type of irrational fear of moths, you’ll want to avoid them if possible. That should be pretty easy though because it is quite rare to see them at all, even if you are looking for them.