Black Witch Moth

In the Dark of Lea County - Black Witch Moth

Mariposa de la Muerte – Butterfly of Death

Here is a uniquely different night harbinger-for-bearing death. What the heck are your writing about Dr. Dirt? 

It is the elusive Black Witch Moth that is frequenting our cities and towns in Lea County. It is a creature of the night that can startle you when spooked by your presence. A lot of folks miss-identify the Black Witch moth as a bat as it flies a very erratic path much like a bat at dusk. It is larger than the Mexican Free-tail bats of Carlsbad Caverns fame.

This is the largest North American moth. A female will have a wing span of 7 inches tip to tip and a white marbled line through the wings. Males are smaller and do not have the white line. The caterpillars of this moth are 2.50 to 3 inches long and they are voracious eaters of mesquites, acacias and legumes that grow in our desert southwest boondock country. They feed at night, crawl under ground debris during the daylight hours. The larvae spin a large cocoon on the ground under cover, as they pupate, over a few weeks the unusual Black Witch moth emerges as an adult and lives for a few weeks looking for a mate during the cover of darkness. One good thing, they are NOT an agricultural farm/ranch pest.

These extremely large moths migrate from Brazil, up through Mexico, from the Caribbean Islands, into the United States and northward to the Canadian provinces and they even wing their way to the Hawaiian Islands too. The only thing wrong here, it is a one-way migration and NO return to the south-ending in death.

In folklore of many cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean Islands, it’s associated with death and misfortune.

Known as in:

Mexico -                 Butterfly of Death or Mariposa de la Muerte

Jamaica -                Duppy Bat or Lost Soul

French-speaking Caribbean Islands -         Dark Sorcerer or Sorei’re Noire

According to folklore, if the Black Witch Moth flies into your field of view, it conveys a curse from an enemy. If it flies over your head, it will cause your hair to fall out. If it flies into your home when you are sick, you will not get well. You will die.

Now, on a happier note, if the Black Witch Moth appears before you after someone has died, it represents the soul of the person returning to bid you farewell. Should one alight on you, you will become rich. Should a Black Witch Moth land above the door of your home, you will win the lottery. (Hummmmh!)

It has its life’s hazards too. The Black Witch Moth is active at night, and darkness adds a measure of protection, but it does fall prey to hungry, feeding bats and giant orb spiders, waiting to entangle a flying moth into its web. A daytime flight of a spooked moth could mean a meal for several birds that would feast on it.

Even in literature they are noted…

“I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in the quiet earth,” the character Lockwood said, at a graveside, in Emily Bronte’s dark and disturbing novel Wuthering Heights.

This is a precursor to a new museum exhibit coming, “In the Dark”. I will have one of these moths for display in this upcoming exhibit.