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Black Witch

Ascalapha odorata

Summary 5

The erebid moth Ascalapha odorata, commonly known as the black witch moth, is a large bat-shaped, dark-colored nocturnal moth, found from Brazil until the southern United States. It is the largest noctuid found in the continental United States. In the folklore of many cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean, it is associated with death or misfortune.

Physical description 6

Female moths can attain a wingspan of 17 cm. The dorsal surfaces of their wings are mottled brown with hints of iridescent purple and pink, and, in females, crossed by a white bar. The diagnostic marking is a small spot on each forewing shaped like a number nine or a comma. This spot is often green with orange highlights. Males are somewhat smaller, reaching 12 cm in width, darker in color and lacking the white bar crossing the wings. The larva is a large caterpillar up to 7 cm in length with intricate patterns of black and greenish-brown spots and stripes.

Geographical range 6

The black witch moth lives throughout Central America and Mexico, from Brazil to the southern United States. Adults feed on overripe rainforest fruit, especially bananas, and larvae consume the leaves of plants. Most of its host plants are legumes. It favors Acacia species, Kentucky coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus), and candle bush (Senna alata). It attacks mesquite and ficus, and can be an agricultural pest.

The moth flies north during late spring and summer, as far as Hawaii. One caught during an owl banding project at the Whitefish Point lighthouse on the shoreline of Lake Superior July 2020.

Folklore and mythology 6

The black witch moth is considered a harbinger of death in Mexican and Caribbean folklore. In many cultures, one of these moths flying into the house is considered bad luck: e.g., in Mexico, when there is sickness in a house and this moth enters, it is believed the sick person will die, though a variation on this theme (in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas) is that death only occurs if the moth flies in and visits all four corners of one's house (in Mesoamerica, from the pre-Hispanic era until the present time, moths have been associated with death and the number four). In some parts of Mexico, people joke that if one flies over someone's head, the person will lose his hair.

In Jamaica, under the name duppy bat, the moth is seen as the embodiment of a lost soul or a soul not at rest. In Jamaican English, the word duppy is associated with malevolent spirits returning to inflict harm upon the living and bat refers to anything other than a bird that flies. The word "duppy" (also: "duppie") is also used in other West Indian countries, generally meaning "ghost".

In Hawaii, black witch moth mythology, though associated with death, has a happier note in that if a loved one has just died, the moth is an embodiment of the person's soul returning to say goodbye. In the Bahamas, where they are locally known as money moths or moneybats, the legend is that if they land on you, you will come into money, and similarly, in South Texas, if a black witch moth lands above your door and stays there for a while you will supposedly win the lottery.

In Paraguay people are afraid of the black witch moth, as there is a mistaken belief about the moth urinating over their human "victims" and thereby inoculating their eggs, which then develop into maggots developing under the skin. Some also believe, if it touches your eyes, you can go blind. The maggots referred to are the myiasis-causing larvae of the human botfly (Dermatobia hominis). As a consequence of that belief, both the moth and the maggot are called with the common name "ura". Both the name and folk belief are of unknown origin.

In Spanish, the black witch moth is known as "mariposa de la muerte" (Mexico & Costa Rica), "pirpinto de la yeta" (Argentina), "tara bruja" (Venezuela) or simply "mariposa negra" (Colombia); in Nahuatl (Mexico) it is "Miquipapalotl" or "Tepanpapalotl" (miqui = death, black + papalotl = moth); in Quechua (Peru) it is "Taparaco"; in Mayan (Yucatán) it is "X-mahan-nah" (mahan = to borrow + nah = house). Other names for the moth include the papillion-devil, la sorcière noire, the mourning moth or the sorrow moth.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Katja Schulz, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/86548370@N00/6786458413
  2. (c) Guillermo Debandi, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Guillermo Debandi
  3. no rights reserved, uploaded by Andrew J. Crawford
  4. (c) Santiago Ron, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Santiago Ron
  5. Adapted by Jeny Davis from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascalapha_odorata
  6. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascalapha_odorata

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