Black Witch in Ohio!

A Black Witch, Ascalapha odorata, rests on the hand of your narrator, the latter appendage offering a size scale for the enormous moth. Note the moth's beautifully intricate patterning and subtle lavender shading. Hints of gold and blue dot the wings. It truly is an impressive insect.

Dimensionally, this tropical vagrant to Ohio and northerly latitudes is the largest moth species that we get. The resident Cecropia Moth, Hyalophora cecropia, might edge it slightly in terms of weight, but when it comes to sheer size nothing beats one of these spectacular witches. Females are slightly larger than males, and can have a wingspan of seven inches.

The Black Witch perches on a raceme of ripe Pokeberry fruit. It is a male - females have a broad whitish band running across each wing.

A Facebook acquaintance, Kim McCoy, posted photos of this insect on October 5. It turned up on the side of her father's Fayette County house, and she went over to see it and remove the moth for eventual release. I asked if I could photograph it, and she gave it to me.

Opportunities to photograph Black Witches in Ohio are few and far between. And all that I have seen - and photographed - have been females, so this was an easy opportunity to make photos of a boy.

The Black Witch peers over a corymb of White Snakeroot flowers. Their size and appearance can lend a spooky look, to those predisposed to believe that moths and other insects can be "spooky". And many people do. Their are a number of myths about Black Witches, which are sometimes known as Mariposa de la Muerte - "Butterfly of Death". Legend has it that if a witch flies into the casa of someone who is ill, that person will soon die.

To people of my ilk, finding a Black Witch is a wonderful and fortuitous event.

A New England Aster provides a perch for the moth. Today's temps are expected to reach the 70's F, and I'll let it go this afternoon. The core range of the Black Witch is from the southernmost U.S. - I have seen many in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas - south into South America and Brazil. I'd be amazed if any of these northern vagrants ever make it back down that way, though.

And "vagrant" is probably not an accurate descriptor. That implies that the moths are idly wandering. I doubt that's what's happening, from a long-term population perspective. Black Witches are powerful flyers, and increasing numbers seem to be peregrinating far to the north of their "normal" range. In the long term, this is how species expand ranges - by sending scouts far into the hinterlands. Most will probably perish, but over time if climate and habitat shift to better accommodate their needs, the scouts will discover new opportunities and establish new colonies. Indeed, this happened with the Black Witch in Ohio in 2012 when Omar Baldridge discovered a newly eclosed Black Witch on a Mimosa tree, Albizia julibrissin, in their yard in Scioto County. Read about that RIGHT HERE.

Mimosa is an Asian tree commonly in cultivation, and increasing as a "wild" escapee, but they provide suitable fodder for Black Witch caterpillars. Natives that this moth will use as hosts include Black Locust, Robinia pseudoacacia, and Kentucky Coffee Tree, Gymnocladus dioicus. The former is abundant statewide and the latter is locally common. I think we'll likely see this huge moth increasingly reproducing itself in Ohio and other northerly locales. It is the perfect entomological organism for rapid range expansion, and its common host plants provide ample opportunities.

Like the moth it becomes, the Black Witch caterpillar is a gargantuan larva. I made this image last year. A Black Witch had shown up in Columbus, and it turned out to be a gravid female. I and nearly two hundred other people were at Mothapalooza, but as luck would have it, the moth turned up at Don Tumblin's daughter Lacey's house. Don was at Mothapalooza, enticed Lacey to drive the moth down from her Columbus home, and the entire crowd got to see the witch. It was a very cool event. You can see the actual moth HERE.

That moth was a female and full of eggs. A number of eggs were extracted from her before she was released. I'm sure she deposited her remaining eggs on some suitable host plant up this way. Kim Baker took some of the eggs and successfully reared at least one. This caterpillar is one of the spawn from her batch of eggs. If you ever come into close proximity to one munching away on a locust or coffee tree, you probably won't miss it, and you're even less likely to miss the moth should you be fortunate to have one appear under your night light.. 

Black Witch spawned in Ohio!

Black Witch moths, Ascalapha odorata, draw attention wherever they occur. Even in the core of their range, which extends from Brazil north to south Texas and Florida, they seldom fail to elicit a reaction. These giants of the Noctuid Family can have a wingspan that reaches seven inches. They're the size of bats, and when one turns up under the eaves, people notice.

Black Witches are well known for their northward wandering. Individuals routinely move far north of their regular haunts, but extralimital records become increasingly scarce as one moves northward. Still, a few are found in Canada every year, and the record for the northernmost Black Witch comes from Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay - the Polar Bear capital of the world. These large moths are obviously powerful flyers, and can  cover a lot of ground, fast. Sometimes large movements are associated with severe storms such as hurricanes. In July 2003, hundreds if not thousands of Black Witches were observed making landfall in coastal Texas after apparently crossing the Gulf of Mexico, pushed by the hurricane.

Here in Ohio, near the northern limits of their wanderings, the Black Witch is a great rarity and they are nor reported every season. This year has been exceptional, though - I think I've heard about five or six records. But the one reported below takes the cake.

 Photo: Omar Baldridge

I received this photo and two others courtesy of Omar Baldridge of Wheelersburg, Ohio, which is in Scioto County along the Ohio River. He stepped outside his house on the evening of October 5th, and was stunned to find this behemoth of a moth on his porch. When I saw Omar's photos, I was equally stunned, in part because it was a Black Witch, but even more so because the animal was obviously freshly emerged from its cocoon and hadn't even finished fully expanding its wings.

Given the juvenile condition of the moth, it had to have been spawned locally - very locally. Insofar as I am aware, there are no breeding records of Black Witch north of Texas. I sent the photos along to Dave Horn, OSU entomologist and president of the Ohio Lepidopterists, and he checked with Black Witch expert Mike Quinn of Austin, Texas (see Mike's comprehensive Black Witch website HERE). He didn't know of any reproduction records anywhere near this far north, but did mention that lepidopterist Steve Passoa once caught a female Black Witch in Columbus, Ohio, and was able to induce it to produce eggs.

As most of the northern records seem to be females, and given that these moths can probably reach Ohio in fairly short order, I suppose it shouldn't be utterly unexpected that this tropical moth could reproduce here.

Photo: Omar Baldridge

As the night wore on, the moth's wings increasingly expanded and gained form. Note the beautiful violaceous tint to the underwings. I've seen a number of Black Witches, but never the underwings. When fully mature, these moths always perch with wings spread on a flat plane with only the dorsal (top) surfaces visible. CLICK HERE for photos of another Ohio record of Black Witch that show the moth in typical repose.

Host plants for the Black Witch are woody plants in the Fabaceae, or Legume Family. Potential candidates that occur in Ohio are Kentucky Coffee Tree, Gymnocladus dioicus, Black Locust, Robinia pseudoacacia, and... the Mimosa Tree, Albizia julibrissin. The latter is native to parts of Asia, but is commonly planted in the U.S. and does well in southern Ohio. While I couldn't find a record of Mimosa Tree as a host for Black Witch, they are documented from another species of Albizia, A. lebbeck.

I asked Omar if any of these trees occurred in the vicinity of his house. His reply: "...we do have a rather large Mimosa tree in our front yard (the photos were taken on my front porch)". Hmmm... One does have to wonder if a gravid female Black Witch dumped her eggs on this Mimosa Tree, and at least one of those eggs made it through the caterpillar and cocoon stage, and thus led to the newly emerged Black Witch on Omar's porch.

Thanks to Omar for finding and documenting a spectacular record, and also for sharing his photos with us.

Black Witch in Ohio!

Photo: Rusty Shuffelton

Dave and Rusty Shuffelton made an extraordinary find back on August 13, when they entered Dave's Shelby County garage and discovered a female black witch, Ascalapha odorata. This enormous tropical species strays far to the north with regularity, but nonetheless Ohio records are few and far between. I don't think they are found here annually, or at least not that I hear of. Records are always noteworthy, and if you find one I'd love to hear about it.

This record illustrates the utility of cell/smart phones, nearly all of which seem to have cameras included these days. That's what Rusty used to document this record.

Last September, Greg Raterman turned up a black witch in Pickaway County, and I wrote about these interesting moths in more detail in that post. CLICK HERE if you would like to peruse that piece.

Thanks to Dave and Rusty for documenting and sharing this record.

Black Witch

This is just too cool not to share lickety-split, so here it is - the most amazing moth one could hope for in Ohio. Sort of like finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Photo by Greg Raterman

Moth expert Greg Raterman was baiting nocturnal leps last night in Pickaway County, when this gorgeous monstrosity appeared. Black Witch, Ascalapha odorata! As far as I know, this is the biggest moth to be found north of Mexico, and they are true showstoppers.

I can only imagine Greg's surprise when he checked his moth-baiting operation and found this beast. Like most Black Witches that turn up far to the north of where they ought to be, this one is a female, which has the prominent white scalloped line across the wings. The Black Witch occurs in parts of the Caribbean, and throughout Mexico and Central America and south into South America. They are major rarities this far north, and one shows up in Ohio every few years, perhaps.

Photo by Greg Raterman

Its wings are ornately painted, and when seen well the Black Witch is a thing of beauty. However, not all people consider them welcome, and much superstitious nonsense has come to shroud the moth. A Spanish name for this species is Mariposa de la Muerte, or "butterfly of death". Legend has it that if someone is ill in the casa, and a Black Witch enters, they'll soon die. A better myth has it that if the moth enters a dwelling, flies to all four corners in a room, someone inside dies.

I took this photo a few years back, in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas. Several Black Witches were feeding on oranges set out for orioles, and the fruit offers a size scale, revealing the massive proportions of the moth.

Congratulations to Greg Raterman for an outstanding find, and I thank him for sharing it with us. There are probably some others flying around out there, somewhere - if you see a Black Witch, please let me know.