Peggy Sullivan couldn’t believe her eyes. It was one of nature’s rarer X-rated shows going on in broad daylight.

Thursday morning when she arrived at work, she found the unusual display of two Cecropia moths mating.

Aaron Watkins does some close-up, ground-level observation of a pair of mating Cecropia moths. The moths were discovered Thursday in front of Howard Pine's Garden Center & Green Houses, 1320 N. Third St., clinging to a fence rail, where they remained most of the day. The Cecropia is the largest North American moth with a wingspan of 5 to 6 inches, and although the moths are native to Kansas, they're seldom seen because they're mostly nocturnal.

Sullivan, a nature lover who works at Howard Pine’s Garden Center & Green Houses, 1320 N. Third St., had thought it odd when she saw a female Cecropia on Wednesday afternoon at the greenhouse. After all, Cecropias are mostly nocturnal.

She was surprised and delighted Thursday to discover that the female had decided to stick around and had attracted a second Cecropia.

“We’re all great naturalists, so of course we were totally pixilated by having this wonderful thing show up on our doorstep,” Sullivan said.

Cecropia moths have red bodies with white bands and dark brown wings.

Stephan White, Baldwin, author of “Insects in Kansas,” said Cecropia sightings were fairly rare in northeast Kansas.

“That’s pretty unusual,” he said. “It’s not common, even though the moth is native to Kansas.”

White said the lifespan of the winged Cecropia moth was short, and Sullivan said the moths’ behavior supported this.

“I believe I saw the female pumping her wings from coming out of chrysalis,” she said. “If you’re born one day and mate the next, they’re obviously getting busy for some reason.”

Aaron Watkins, a greenhouse worker at Pine’s, said he also was mesmerized by the moths.

“It was fantastic when I saw the wings open up, just to see all the color,” he said.

Orley “Chip” Taylor, a butterfly expert and professor of biological sciences at Kansas University, said female Cecropias usually sent out pheromones to attract mates in the very early morning. Two mating moths then remain joined until early evening, when the female moth retreats to begin laying eggs.

That explains why Sullivan’s moths were gone Friday morning.

“That’s just fine with me,” Sullivan said. “I would never want to tip off where something was sighted. I wouldn’t want tons of people coming to look at them.”

Sullivan said greenhouse workers had to fend off a blackbird to protect the moths. She is confident the moths survived and reproduced successfully.

“I’m going to say with a good heart that I think they made it,” she said. “The story had a happy ending.”