Pages

▼

31 October 2011

Mariposa de la Muerta

On the morning of the Halloween, during this time of Dia de los Muertos, look at the beautiful moth that appeared before us hiding under a bridge on San Antonio's River Walk:



The Black Witch (Ascalapha odorata) or the Mariposa de la Muerta. This is our largest moth north of Mexico, with a wingspan of about 6 or 7 inches. Look how it stacks up against my large hand:


Learn more about this fascinating lepidoptera on Mike Quinn's Texas Entomology. Happy Halloween! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha...

3 comments:

  1. Abbey Forney10/31/11, 6:22 PM

    How cool! I love the colors.
    Glad to hear you were in San Antonio. I hope you enjoyed it. I was near Lake Travis this weekend and although both San Antonio and Austin have been affected by the drought, it seemed like the Austin area had more dead trees (or maybe I just noticed them since I was looking with fresh eyes). Having just been to SA, did you think the same thing? Just curious.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Curious Holts11/3/11, 10:22 AM

    Oh it's beautiful! The moth is pretty impressive too.

    (omg the word verification is MANJOLT!!! The possibilities are endless...)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous6/27/16, 2:12 PM

    we just saw one in new mexico (last of june 2016) and she landed on my parents grave marker.Beautiful moth,have never seen one before.

    ReplyDelete