CLOSED: What kind of a Moth is this?

Story---
Last Sunday, as I was about to enter my HD (I work there) there was this amazing, beautiful Moth just sitting on the concrete floor near the front door. SO colorful! One of my managers came by and he took a photo of it with his phone.
This Moth was not able to fly--it just sat there VERY slowly waving it's wings. I was sure it was near the end of it's life...
I wanted to save it until it passed on--and then keep it....

So--I took it inside and kept it in a small bucket all day.
Then took it home in a food container---then had it in a cake container with a 4" dome on it.....Of course--in the process--there were times it thrashed around a bit....did a bit of damage....

Then--as it was not about to die--I put it in the fridge for a day and a half (someone told me to do that)--but when i took it out, it was still moving it's wings....

Next--i put it inside a big wicker basket and wrapped a lace tablecloth all over it and took it outside under my patio.
I kept checking on it every day--but it was still alive....

Today, Thursday, I went and looked--and it was finally dead....also a lot of damage to the wing tips and all over...
Perhaps it had been dead for a couple of days already--or perhaps it had flown around and thrashed a lot.....anyway--it looks pathetic.

Checked all 16 pages in PF under Moths. Did not see one like it.
Took some pictures today--and will attach them here....

What is/was it?
Is it rare?
And--I would like to know the life progression of a moth. Do they lay eggs and then die? At what state do you think this one might have been in? Since it could not fly--I thought it was soon going to die.....

Thanks---Gita

Here is the top view of it. If the wings were intact--the span would be 6".

Here is the main body looking closely from the top. LOVE the fur!

Here is the top of it looking head first....

Here is the under-body looking from the side....Such beautiful stripes of orange!

And lastly--Here is the underside of the Moth.

What can you tell me about this?????

Thanks, Gita

Gita, you have a Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia). If the wings did not have the damage when you first found it the moth had probably just hatched. They can't fly at first, and usually energe from their chrysalis/cocoon in the morning. They live only a few days as a moth, eating nothing, mating, laying eggs and dying. Surely someone with a lot more knowledge of this beautiful moth will jump in and add to my comments.

David---

Thank you for the info you provided....

There was NO damage when i found it! it was perfect and beautiful. Loved the markings!
I will ask the Manager that took a photo of it that morning to, maybe, e-mail it to me....they are not really allowed to do that--as all this is on their company blackberries.....But--i can ask! Then I can post it here.
Some other people that start working at 4AM had already seen it sitting there near the door....I came in at 6AM.

I believe the damage occurred because it must have died a couple of days ago and just dried up. Even tho the basket was in shade--we have had mid-90's every day...Just like an oven!
I had guests here since Sunday (my daughter and her fiancee from Seattle), so I did not check on it as I should have....
They left today (Wed.) and I went to check on the Moth--as I had not even had a chance to take it's picture---and there it was--all dried up and brittle.....

Gita

Gita--

When I was a lad of 9 or 10 I had a similar experience. My family spent a week in a cabin near Shenandoah National Park and several large moths were attracted to the lights at night. Before we left I captured a Polyphemus Moth and an Imperial Moth, safely (I thought) transporting them in an empty oatmeal box. Arriving home I discovered that they had beat their wings to pieces just like yours and were unfit as additions to my collection. :-(

David--

Do moths have a pupa stage or a "caterpillar" stage? Are they something else before becoming these beautiful things? What do the eggs hatch-to-be?

I have a really large brandy sniffer glass container. The first thing I put in it was a snake skin I found when i was working amid 14 greenhouses for a Grower--(1990?). It is full of all kinds of dead critters----mostly insects and moths and Locusts, and whatnot....One of the moths is also a big one--and so beautiful!

I have a picture somewhere of the Moths--big and small......Now to go find it.....

Then--
There are some other big bugs......moths?

I call this one the "Delta Winged Bug"......

Gita---

Moths, like butterflies hatch from eggs as caterpillers and eat vegetative material. After growing greatly in size and molting several times they pupate in cocoons (moths) or as a chrysalis (butterflies). Emerging as adult moths they are often short lived, some species living only a few days. All that build-up to produce all that beauty, and POOF! What a shame.

In the picture of your collection, the large moth bottom right is a Polyphemus Moth and the large moth to its left is a Royal Walnut Moth. The two moths you pictured individually are both Sphinx Moths. There are over 100 species of Sphinx Moths in North America and I have not actively studied them in a very long time, so I would be amiss if I attempted to identify them.

David--

Just FYI------

That wood ruler was bought in New Zealand in 1989. It is made with bits of all the timbers that grow there.
Too bad it it upside down....

You COULD stand on your head to read it? Or--You could rotate the picture so you can read the names....
I also COULD take another photo of the whole thing.........Why not?

Here's the whole thing-

Here's the left half---

i LOVE the words and names in the Maori culture! I also love their simplistic beliefs in Creation and how the heavens and earth were formed.....And how their souls (after dying) go to a certain point (can't remember the name) and jump off to go to eternity. Everything in their belief system has wonderful stories to go along with it....

For as few letters as they have in their alphabet---every one has to be pronounced.

When we arrived in Tahiti--we landed at the "AAA" Airport.....Pronounced---Ah-Ah-Ah.....

OK! back to the ruler....Here is the left side

This is the right half----the last names on the right are a bit dark--but they are: Rata and Miro

If you can--go someday "Down Under'---but not just Australia. New Zealand is where the heart will smile.
You will want to get back to the "simple life"......of ages ago.....

We never got to the South Island--they have Alps there--with snow.....and I also learned that there were 37 sheep for every inhabitant in NZ.
We pretty much "lived on a bus" with frequent stops to savor the local culture....

Thanks! Nice to reminisce......Gita