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Death head moth

2K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Robert Hawkins 
#1 ·
I'm having a discussion about the "Deaths Head" moth, so named because the image of a skull can be clearly seen on its back. I first saw it in a NOVA presentation about bees. The **** critter slips into the hive and sups to it's full because it smells like a bee and even sounds like one.

Anyway: I'm now told that they don't exist in this country. I claim to have killed five at a time on my inner covers.

Have any of you seen one of these moths? Does anyone have a pix? (They were a feature in "Silence of the lambs".)
 
#2 ·
I think I've seen on that big and kind of similar. I did not see the markings clearly. It was by the hives, but there was only one and it didn't seem to be bothering anything. I will try to pay more attention if I see one again.

Assuming that there are not any here, is there, perhaps, a slightly different variation that IS in this country?

Are the ones you saw possibly hawk moths?

http://research.amnh.org/swrs/invertebrates/hawk%20moth%208.JPG
 
#3 ·
>I claim to have killed five at a time on my inner covers.

Now you did it, they are an endangerd species!
Just Kidding!


Dickm,
Would be great if you could catch and photograph the moth. It would be facinating because they do not exist in North America.

Mike,
He is refering to Acherontia atropos,
AKA, Death's head. They enter honeybee colonies and puncture honey cells to feed. Due to the chemical produced by the moth, they are invisable to honeybees.

http://tpittaway.tripod.com/sphinx/a_atr.htm
 
#4 ·
Now that I've done a little research I'm not so sure. What I saw was grey with a definite face on its back and it was about 3" long not 5. It was more like the "Manduca Sexta" which is the moth of the tobacco hornworm. (These were the stand-ins actually used in "Silence of the Lambs".) What the hell were they doing under my beehive covers?

Dickm
 
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