Jamie Zimolong was watering the plants on her front porch in Maryland when a small brownish-gray creature caught her attention.
At first, she barely glanced at it — Maryland is full of cicadas, and their wings end up everywhere. But when she looked a little closer, she froze.
She wasn’t staring at a bug.
She was staring at a tiny dragon.
“Maryland has cicadas, so I’m used to bugs all over the place,” Zimolong told The Dodo. “I just assumed that’s what I was seeing. Then I looked again and thought, ‘Wow! That looks just like a dragon!’”
Her little “dragon” turned out to be a spotted apatelodes moth, or Apatelodes torrefacta — a species found across the eastern United States, from Maine down to Florida and west to Texas. And while he sadly doesn’t breathe fire, he does have a magical look.
With a wingspan of only about 1.5 inches, the tiny moth might’ve gone completely unnoticed if he hadn’t settled right in her doorway. But his sharply curved abdomen and V-shaped wings created a striking silhouette — almost like a miniature, winged creature from a fantasy novel. Zimolong was actually admiring his back, not his face, which made him look even more dragon-like.
She quickly snapped a photo to show her boyfriend and family. As a big “Game of Thrones” fan, the moment earned her a brand-new nickname.
“I told my family, and now they call me Khaleesi,” she said with a laugh.
The little “dragon” eventually fluttered away, but Zimolong was thrilled to have crossed paths with such an unusual guest — and she’s now keeping an eye out for any other tiny mythical creatures that might decide to visit her garden.
