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.
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - photos of living and pinned adults
species account including photo of male and US distribution map (butterfliesandmoths.org)
Systema naturae, 10th ed., v.2, p.505 Linnaeus' original description of the species (in Latin)
