Jamie Zimolong was watering the plants on her front porch in Maryland when she noticed a brownish-gray bug.
She wasn’t sure what he was at first, but then she realized she was looking at a little dragon.
“Maryland has cicadas, so I’m used to bugs everywhere,” Zimolong explained to The Dodo. “Because their wings are all over the place, I assumed that was what it was. Then I took a closer look and said, ‘Wow! ‘It looks just like a dragon!'”
The “dragon” was actually a sort of moth called a spotted apatelodes moth, or Apatelodes torrefaction. This moth may be found in fields and forests from Maine to Florida and Texas, and he, unfortunately, does not breathe fire.
With only a 1.5-inch wingspan, Zimolong probably wouldn’t have noticed the small guest if he hadn’t been at her doorway. His upwardly curving abdomen and V-shaped wings, on the other hand, gave him a dragon-like appearance — even though she was staring at his back, not his front.
Zimolong took a snapshot of the unusual moth to show her boyfriend and family, earning the “Game of Thrones” aficionado a new moniker: “I informed my family, and now they call me Khaleesi,” Zimolong said.
The bug has since left Zimolong’s porch, but she was grateful to get a visit from such an interesting critter — and is now always on the lookout for any other tiny dragons or mythical beings who might fly into her garden.
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