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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
317:
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
283:. 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.
357:
at the
University of Connecticut, seeking to identify the immature stages of the white witch. A key strategy: to obtain a gravid female and attempt rearing on likely hosts. The participants maintain a website, and an active citizen science project on
330:(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
257:
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
410:, though considered by some to be of dubious validity in the case of this and several hundred other "Brechlin and Meister species", which are often proposed on the basis of DNA alone.
279:
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
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is a third morphologically distinct species). However, a 2016 publication proposes a new species among the subset of moths previously identified as
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Robinson, Gaden S.; Ackery, Phillip R.; Kitching, Ian J.; Beccaloni, George W.; Hernández, Luis M. (2010).
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is further categorized as containing two subspecies, and the authors also define a subspecies of
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in the U.S. Collection dates shows no discernible pattern with respect to location or season.
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of the species in 1776. The most commonly accepted
English name is the
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Conventionally, "white witch" refers to two very similar species of
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Brechlin, Ronald; Van
Schayck, Eric (May 2016). "Three new taxa of
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218:
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486:"Observation collection/observation localities of Thysania"
214:
682:"A Few Bad Scientists Are Threatening to Topple Taxonomy"
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White Witch Watch is a project led by the lepidopterist
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652:
555:"White Witch - Thysania agrippina (Cramer, 1776)"
966:
723:, Texas Entomology page authored by Mike Quinn
449:
574:"Search the database - introduction and help"
452:"Chapter 32 — Largest Lepidopteran Wing Span"
398:by morphological features and DNA evidence.
312:
29:
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227:Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium,
967:
445:
443:
799:
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529:"The search for the White Witch moth"
680:Jones, Benjamin (7 September 2017).
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13:
14:
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729:, a project seeking to determine
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241:. Other common names include the
782:
770:
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700:"Brechlin & Meister Species"
450:Kons, Hugo Jr. (30 March 2000).
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582:Natural History Museum, London
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990:Taxa named by Pieter Cramer
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290:The larva illustrated by
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39:Scientific classification
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313:Ecology, natural history
225:in her 1705 publication
985:Moths described in 1776
704:Breedingbutterflies.com
657:Dalman, 1824 allied to
428:List of largest insects
394:is differentiated from
980:Moths of South America
456:Book of Insect Records
309:
221:. It was described by
460:University of Florida
392:Thysania winbrechiini
289:
292:Maria Sibylla Merian
281:Maria Sibylla Merian
223:Maria Sibylla Merian
408:T. agrippina siriae
324:(the owl moth) and
809:Thysania agrippina
598:Thysania agrippina
596:"The white witch,
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296:Thysania agrippina
255:Thysania agrippina
235:formal description
206:Thysania agrippina
184:Phalaena agrippina
158:Thysania agrippina
962:
961:
947:Open Tree of Life
801:Taxon identifiers
727:White Witch Watch
661:(Cramer, 1776)".
604:White Witch Watch
508:White Witch Watch
424:, the black witch
421:Ascalapha odorata
327:Ascalapha odorata
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462:. Archived from
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366:Taxonomic status
336:Caesalpinioideae
321:Thysania zenobia
251:great owlet moth
247:great gray witch
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706:. 5 April 2018.
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294:(1647–1717) as
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535:. 12 June 2015
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629:Dalman, 1824"
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733:life history
731:T. agrippina
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659:T. agrippina
658:
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636:. Retrieved
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619:
607:. Retrieved
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537:. Retrieved
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511:. Retrieved
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468:. Retrieved
464:the original
455:
419:
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404:T. agrippina
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396:T. agrippina
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388:T. agrippina
387:
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376:T. agrippina
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338:), possibly
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195:Hubner, 1821
192:Syrnia strix
191:
187:Cramer, 1776
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126:
24:White witch
18:
975:Thermesiini
895:iNaturalist
721:White Witch
686:Smithsonian
669:(2): 28–33.
663:Satsphingia
609:13 December
539:13 December
513:13 December
380:T. pomponia
360:iNaturalist
334:(subfamily
302:, probably
239:white witch
96:Lepidoptera
969:Categories
765:Arthropods
470:21 October
434:References
384:T. zenobia
260:Atlas moth
243:ghost moth
106:Noctuoidea
76:Arthropoda
638:5 January
134:Species:
62:Kingdom:
56:Eukaryota
921:LepIndex
913:10772173
832:BioLib:
824:Q2391405
818:Wikidata
655:Thysania
627:Thysania
414:See also
372:Thysania
332:Fabaceae
300:sphingid
219:Erebidae
175:Synonyms
127:Thysania
116:Erebidae
112:Family:
72:Phylum:
66:Animalia
52:Domain:
952:1067594
939:1113369
887:5110327
789:Biology
777:Animals
753:Insects
739:Portals
344:and/or
274:History
211:species
168:, 1776)
122:Genus:
92:Order:
86:Insecta
82:Class:
926:289159
900:194632
874:559418
848:269582
835:453728
504:"Blog"
347:Cassia
166:Cramer
908:IRMNG
861:56THH
341:Senna
298:is a
268:Texas
229:and
209:is a
934:NCBI
882:GBIF
843:BOLD
640:2019
633:GBIF
611:2018
541:2018
515:2018
472:2013
378:and
262:and
249:and
215:moth
869:EoL
856:CoL
213:of
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