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.
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