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Species Ascalapha odorata - Black Witch - Hodges#8649

4-5 inch brown moth/ butterfly - Ascalapha odorata Black Witch Moth - Ascalapha odorata Large moth found on backporch - Ascalapha odorata Large black witch moth - Ascalapha odorata Ascalapha odorata Black Witch Moth Ascalapha odorata - Ascalapha odorata - female Black Witch Moth - Ascalapha odorata - female  Ascalapha odorata - Ascalapha odorata - male
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
No Taxon (Moths)
Superfamily Noctuoidea
Family Erebidae
Subfamily Erebinae
Tribe Thermesiini
Genus Ascalapha
Species odorata (Black Witch - Hodges#8649)
Hodges Number
8649
Other Common Names
La Sorcière Noire (French)
Mariposa de la Muerte (Spanish)
Mah-Ha-Na (Mayan for "May I borrow your house?")
Money Moths or Moneybats - Bahamas
Micpapalotl - Mexico
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
First formally described in 1758 by Linnaeus as Phalaena Bombyx odorata, citing a 1725 work by Hans Sloane
Ascalapha odorata

ASCALAPHA Hbn., 1809
IDECHTHIS Hbn., 1821
OTOSEMA Hbn., 1823
EREBUS; auth., not Latr., 1810

odorata (L., 1758)
odora (L., 1764), missp.
agarista (Cram., 1777)
Explanation of Names
Latin for "scented, having an odor"
Numbers
the only species in this genus in North America
Size
wingspan 90-150 mm (1) - the largest owlet moth in North America
Identification
Wings dark brown, both pairs crossed by series of alternating light and dark undulating lines and bands; often an iridescent blue cast over wings. Females are more contrastingly marked than males. (1)
females have pinkish-white bands across middle of both wings, like this one:

whereas males lack pale bands, as in the one below:
Range
South and Central America, straying far north in the United States and southern Canada. (1) Once strayed to Auke Bay, just west of Juneau, Alaska! Common in the Caribbean. Established in Hawaii.
Habitat
Tropical and subtropical forests with trees of the pea family, including Acacia. (1)
Season
The northward migration out of Mexico is triggered by Mexico's rainy season which typically starts in early June and lasts through October. Most US records are from June-August, with a considerable number of records from September-Novermber. Very few US records from December-May.
Food
Caterpillar eats foliage of leguminous trees. (1)
Fabaceae: Acacia, Albizia, Cassia, Ebenopsis (Pithecellobium), Gymnocladus, Prosopis, Robinia, Samanea.
Remarks
Often flies great distances in only a few nights, hiding by day wherever it can find dense shade – frequently under the eves of houses.
Print References
Freeman, B. 2003. A Fallout of Black Witches (Ascalapha odorata) Associated with Hurricane Claudette. News of the Lepidopterists' Society. 45(3):71.
Milne (1)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - photos of living and pinned adults
species account including photo of male and US distribution map (butterfliesandmoths.org)
pinned adult image of female (CBIF)
Systema naturae, 10th ed., v.2, p.505    Linnaeus' original description of the species (in Latin)
A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica, tab.236,fig.13 & fig.14    Sloane's 1725 illustrations with a descriptive caption (in Latin)
Works Cited
1.National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders
By Lorus and Margery Milne