Lost Souls & Midian

A perverse symbiotic parasitism exists between these two species. Both names are misnomers: neither the Amber Leaf nor Copper are moths at all; they are forms of two species of fungi. In their "adult" form (actually a form of self-mobile mushroom) they look rather like moths, flitting slowly and clumsily about. The mobile form of Amber Leaf Moths are light grey in colour and very fuzzy. Their wings are hairy and their bodies moreso. "Antennae" are large and amber-yellow in colour, giving them their name. Copper Moths by comparison, have four symmetrical wings--they always look like they don't know if they are coming or going--and are the mottled reddish brown and green of copper patina. Both species are about an inch and a half in wingspan, and both taste terrible. Amber Leaf Moths smell faintly of dirt, and taste like spoiled fruit; Copper Moths have no discernible odour, but taste bitter & cause vomiting. The truly bizarre thing about both of these fungi, other than their resemblance to moths--including gliding flight--is their interdependence on one another for reproduction. Each needs the deceased form of the adult moth-mushroom to host its own new colonies. While alive, these flying forms float about spreading spores, not hoping to find purchase in a good home, but to fall upon the dead form of the counter species. Copper Moths grow from the bodies of dead Amber Leaf Moths, and vice versa. New patches of mold cannot grow in any other way. Ribosomes grow from these spores when they land on such a dead mushroom-moth, and lie dormant awaiting favourable growing conditions. Both need dark damp warm spaces, but the Amber Leaf needs very dark damp and warm spaces to grow, whereas the Copper is heartier in that regard. Conversely, the new Amber Leaf patch can handle hotter and wetter environs. Amber Leaf patches can grow in standing water, but Copper Moth colonies cannot form there. Both types of colonies slowly eat nearly organic matter. Amber Leaf Moth patches can grow on wood better than Coppers, whereas Copper Moth patches can subsist on soil much better than Amber Leaf colonies. The new colony quickly grows to about three to five inches wide, and sprouts two or three new moths. If the patch continues to grow it will generate a new adult flying mushroom about once or twice a year. Both types of moths are often found in urban areas. Flat walls, enclosed roofs, and lazy people who would rather kick a dead bug under the couch than pick it up, all make for favourable growing conditions.