Palm webOS

Colophon

The animal on the cover of Palm webOS is a luna moth (Actias luna). Luna moths usually live in North American regions filled with black cherry, maple, hickory, willow, and other trees with leaves that can feed their young.

Upon hatching, luna moth caterpillars will wander aimlessly along the plants they were born upon and befriend other recently born caterpillars. But after passing through subsequent stages of larval development, the caterpillars’ gregarious temperaments change, and they become loners as they prepare for pupation.

Before spinning and entering their thin cocoons, luna moth caterpillars will expel excess water and other fluids from their bodies. Once cocooned, the caterpillars will pupate for approximately two weeks, after which they will emerge in daylight with wet, crumpled wings. Although their wings take only 20 minutes to dry, luna moths will wait until nighttime to fly, as they have also metamorphosed into entirely nocturnal creatures.

While the caterpillars will munch on the leaves of the plants they were born upon, luna moths begin and end their adulthoods mouthless. But this trait does not disable them: they have no need for food, as they have also lost their digestive tracts. Though other insects will forage for food shortly after birth, luna moths exist only to find a mate and produce another generation.

Female luna moths attract mates by releasing pheromones from their abdomens; males detect these pheromones via their hairy antennae (and, because ...