Brains and Buckmoths

A couple more new prints I made for #SciArtSeptember are 'Amygdala' and 'Bogbean Buckmoth' which I made for the almond (shape) and silk prompts respectively. Did you know that amygdala literally means almond-shaped? I did not, but it inspired my print. 

Amygdala, 8" x10" cyanotype print, by Ele Willoughby, 2026

This one of a kind cyanotype on water colour paper has an image of an open source brain MRI with the amygdala highlighted in gold. The amygdala is a paired nuclear complex in the cerebral hemispheres of our brains (and those of other vertebrates). Part of the limbic system, the amygdala has a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making, and emotional responses (including fear, anxiety, and aggression) but also plays a role in things like social communication and understanding. 

The Bogbean Buckmoth is an endangered giant silk moth, here in Ontario.

Bogbean Buckmoth, 8" x 8" linocut by Ele Willoughby, 2026

This is a hand-printed lino block print of the endangered Bogbean Buckmoth (Hemileuca sp.). It is printed by hand in dark brown, black and rusty-orange in on lovely Japanese washi (or mulberry) paper, 8" x 8".

A day flying silk moth and the only buckmoth (Hemileuca) in eastern Canada, the Bogbean Buckmoth is very distinct with its black and white wings with eyespots and its black body with both white and rusty orange markings on the thorax and abdomen. It is a medium-sized moth with forewing lengths of 26–32 mm for males and 32–36 mm for females. Bogbean Buckmoth populations are known only from eastern Ontario and New York; it is listed as endangered in both jurisdictions. It only lives in open, chalky, low shrub fens containing large amounts of bogbean, an emergent wetland flowering plant which is the primary food of its larvae along with bog cranberry. Though the adults can fly for several kilometres they rarely leave the region around their home in the fens, increasing their isolation.

The Bogbean Buckmoth has a one-year life cycle. These moths spend the winter as eggs and emerge as larvae (black with reddish-orange branched spines along the back) the next spring, becoming adults in mid- to late September.

Here in Ontario they are threatened by habitat loss and changes like water level fluctuations, land development, pesticide use and climate change and its impact on wetlands. Also, its preferred food, the bogbean, is threatened by invasive plants, especially the European Common Reed and Narrow-leaved Cattail.