The Sharfuthe moth is an insect that has been mostly eradicated as a wild creature; it is almost exclusively kept under strictly controlled cultivation by the Strawberry Creed elves of the Dappled Haven. Its larval populations were once periodical like locusts, fish flies, or cicadas. Some years they would be virtually absent, whereas some years would see vast destruction of forests due to their numbers. Over many generations, elves and humans worked together to control their numbers in order to avoid the unpredictable devastation.
The Sharfuthe larvae feed on wood, secreting enzymes that dissolve lignin and cellulose. They tend to burrow just under the bark of large trees and work their way spirally up into its crown, destroying large amounts of the phloem. A serious Sharfuthe infestation permanently stunts or even kills such trees. Unfortunately for the Dappled Haven, the Sharfuthe larvae are particularly drawn to watik trees. Once in the tree's crown, the larvae form cocoons and emerge as harmless and rather beautiful moths, fluffy white with green and golden speckles. The name Sharfuthe comes from the moth's habit of emerging above the canopy under the light of a full Shar when Selune is dark. As with many holometabolous insects, the metamorphosis leaves the moths unable to eat: only mate, lay eggs, and die within a few weeks. Ancient elven records describe the vision of a bare skeletal forest destroyed by infestation, lit only by Shar, glowing above with thousands upon thousands of glittering moonlit wings. There is an ancient canonical poem on this phenomenon still taught in the Dappled Haven's curriculum as a meditation on the transience of the physical world.
The Strawberry Creed elves of the Dappled Haven use a mixture of magic and husbandry to control the Sharfuthe carefully, because in spite of the larva's destructive nature, its cocoons yield valuable silk thread. The larvae are also used as food, particularly in traditional samor; roasted in large steel pans, they develop the nutty-sweet flavour and texture of almond butter or marzipan. The silk itself does not have the tensile strength of human mulberry-worm silk, therefore lacking any industrial applications, but it is far softer and more lustrous. Thread and cloth of Sharfuthe silk comprise an important export product of the Dappled Haven, especially when dyed with Heartmoss. Indeed, the combination is so ubiquitous that the cloth is often simply called Heartmoss.