#thysania agrippina

[heartnosekid]

white witch moth (thysania agrippina) | source

[moths-daily]

Moth Of The Day #29

White Witch

Thysania agrippina

From the erebidae family. Their wingspan can reach about 30cm, or 12 inches. It is found throughout Mexico and Uruguay, reaching up to Texas at times. It is also known by the names ghost moth, great gray witch, and great owlet moth.

[dailycreatures]

Creature 90

Thysania agrippina

Also known as the White witch or Ghost moth, these guys will spawn anywhere between Uruguay and Mexico. This species larval stages have never actually been documented, so now a bunch of scientists are out there trying to do exactly that. Ghost moths have an impressively large wingspan, one Brazilian specimen has a span of just under 12 inches.

fact and image source: wikipedia

[the-peculiarity-of-anonymity]

Almost two months later (a tad disappointed in myself for not noticing sooner) I have realized that the ask says "Mo/Moth/Mothself" rather than the "Moth/Moths/Mothself" I put by accident....soo I fixed it and changed a few things I didn't like ^-^

They are based on the Banded Sphinx moth (Eumorpha fasciatus), White Witch moth (Thysania agrippina), and The Luna moth (Actias luna) respectively. [from left to right]

[Ps, the White Witch moth flag is more orange than tan like the actual moth because I didn't want a flag that was just shades of beige with a little brown mixed in.]

culd I get mo/moth/mothself neoprns flag...tyy...

moth anon

Of course! Here ya go! ^^

[onenicebugperday]

Today’s bug joy: people with white witch moths, Thysania agrippina. The white witch is the largest moth in the world by wingspan (30cm). They are Big

This species is found from southern Mexico through southern Brazil.

Photo 1 by julianbiol, 2-3 by sesernam, 4 by ruperl_h, 5 by michellem_, 6 by gcwarbler, and 7 by gerryvantonder

[daily-dose-of-lepidoptera]

Daily Dose of Lepidoptera

[Day 11]

-Joseph’s Coat Moth-

Agarista agricola

-Granny’s Cloak Moth-

Speiredonia spectans

-White Witch Moth-

Thysania agrippina

[sorry-but-no-sorry]

Part 10 of the Moth saga comes as a package deal!

Staring

-Mothmy Dimitrescu as a white witch moth / thysania agrippina

-Moth-er Miranda as a black witch moth / ascalapha odorata

-And the daughters who are actually corpse butterflies / purple emperor butterflies /apatura iris

@exhausted.tech

[deathmoth-blog]

Thysania agrippina is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. It was described by Maria Sibylla Merian in her 1705 publication Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, and Pieter Cramer provided the formal description of the species in 1776. The most commonly accepted English name is the white witch. Other common names include the ghost moth, great gray witch and great owlet moth. Thysania agrippina is of interest as a competitor for title of "largest insect". This may be true by the measure of wingspan—a Brazilian specimen with a wingspan of almost 30 cm (12 in) appears to hold the record. The Atlas moth and Hercules moth, however, have greater wing areas. The white witch occurs from Uruguay to Mexico, and appears as a stray as far north as Texas in the U.S.[2] Collection dates shows no discernible pattern with respect to location or season.

One story of the derivation of the common name: early naturalists collected specimens of birds and bats with shotguns. An enormous darting flyer high in the canopy was a tempting target. Firing a cloud of pellets at a white witch moth did not necessarily bring it down, however, because the body is small relative to the wing area. The moth would sail along, an unkillable witch. This moth is of historical interest as the subject of a well-known painting by the artist Maria Sibylla Merian. Merian was an insightful naturalist who advanced the 18th-century understanding of insect life cycles; however, her depiction of the white witch life cycle does not match the actual biology of this species, as it depicts the larva of an unrelated moth.

Given the enormous geographic range of the adult, and observations that date back 300 years, it is striking that the immature life stages of this species have never been documented (notwithstanding the erroneous Merian painting). Long migratory flight is likely, given that the close relatives Thysania zenobia (the owl moth) and Ascalapha odorata (the black witch) are known for flights that reach far north of the host plant distributions. Based on the larval host plants recorded for the owl moth and black witch, the larval host plants for the white witch are probably also woody members of Fabaceae (subfamily Caesalpinioideae), possibly Senna or Cassia.

[the-cricket-chirps]

Maria Sibylla Merian

Thysania agrippina

1705

[whatanimalisinthatpainting]

White witch moth (Thysania agrippina)

Rose Sanderson: Wings of Freedom, from the “Bugs on Book Covers” series 

[the-story-of-a-noble-heart]

Thysania agrippina - The White Witch Moth

Mounting and frame by me.

[bugkeeping]

The White Witch Moth, Thysania agrippina, is an enigmatic species of owlet moth native to South and Central America that holds the title for longest wingspan of any lepidopteran. A Brazilian specimen with a wingspan of almost 30 cm (12 in) appears to hold the record. The Atlas moth and Hercules moth, however, have greater wing areas. 

The White Witch Watch is a citizen science project dedicated to studying this species. David Wagner, the founder, explains that “You would suppose that scientists must know the story of such an impressive organism. We don't. The egg, pupa, and caterpillar of T. agrippina are unknown. We don't know the larval habitat or host plant. We don't know if a moth observed in the city of Quito emerged in the adjacent highlands, or in a rainforest 1000 km distant.”

[ecuadorlife]

Giant Moth, White Witch, Thysania agrippina by Andreas Kay Via Flickr: from Ecuador: www.youtube.com/AndreasKay

[oakwyrm]

Definitely-not-the-Mothman takes a break and chills with their roommate's cat.

[mothmyspace]

thysania agrippina

white witch moth

location: south america

[ex0skeletal-undead]

Hello! I want to draw a moth oc in the style of cuphead and was wandering if you have any moths to recommend me? A white one and one of your own color choice would be good!

BOY DO I. May I suggest the white plume moth, Pterophorus pentadactyla, because they are tiny and beautiful and look like fairies. If you don't want it to be ALL white, I'm a big fan of the sagebrush sheep moth, Hemileuca hera. Also love love love the white witch, Thysania agrippina, which has the largest wingspan of any moth in the world, although they are more sorta light beige and brown than white.

If I were gonna choose a moth to base an OC around personally I might go with the princely tiger moth, Chrysocale principalis, which has some wild colors. Or maybe the Chinese moon moth, Actias dubernardi, which is so pretty it looks fake, or possibly the comet moth, Argema mittrei. Or maybe the oleander hawkmoth, Daphnis neri, which has beautiful shades of green. Wallich’s owl moth, Brahmaea wallichii, has some really cool patterns you could work with. If you wanted to get wild and base it on a caterpillar instead of an adult moth, I would recommend Citheronia phoronea, which looks like a weird spiny goth.

If none of these do it for you, I’d check out photos on inat of lepidopterans here. You can filter by family if you’re particularly into a certain type of moth :)