Silence of the Lambs

Ares Metalmark

I am fascinated by cultures.  Over the years, I've heard some strange things.  Here are some Mexican beliefs that are interesting. This is written by a Mexican American woman.  "A few years ago, an old lady told me something about Black Butterflies, that are big, are a symbol of death. It means someone is going to die if it attaches itself to a house. She told me there is hope however, one must kill the Black Butterfly, in order to avoid death. I'm really scared about this. I saw this huge black Butterfly on some lady's house and just a few days later she died."
                                              
 "Also, one time at my aunts house one of them butterflies(The Huge Black one) landed on right next to the door. My grandma killed it before it got away. Not long after that, someone shot my aunt twice and she survived. I have not much to go on this subject but it frightens me alot."

Dicogaster coronada

 "My mother has been feeling ill and she's very young at only 36. We are having a lot of family problems and my mother was outside by the pool earlier today...she was doing some chores and one of them Huge Black Butterflies flew out and near her.  When she went inside it retreated somewhere by the house. She was talking to one of my elder aunts and told her about it, the elder aunt warned her about the significance of the Black Butterfly (Which was very big..like a small bird) and told her to kill it if she sees it again."

"I just got home from work(on my break) and my mom told me to look for it in my room- the Balcony outside of my room. I did, and sure enough, it was right there. It frightened me! I tried killing it but it flew off into the sky and then right back to my balcony. My mom ran upstairs and tried killing it but escaped and onto the roof. We have a two story house and I climbed from the balcony to the roof and searched for it and almost killed it but it flew off again. It flew off into the sky and I just hope it doesn't come back again..I know it sounds ridiculous but I beg for some helpful advice of anyone who might know anything? Witches, people who know about this sorta thing? please help If it flies away, is the Omen voided?"

Spring Azure butterfly

So many people believe these insects to be the signs of death.  And this isn't the first time I've heard of such things.  Id'ing moths is like trying to find a needle in a haystack but I do believe the moth that this young lady is describing is called the Black Witch Moth.  It's actually quite amazing.  Moths(and some butterflies) fight human superstition everyday with their own lives.

Gloveria arizonensis

They are such amazing creatures that come in all shapes and sizes.  I give credit to anyone who attempts at trying to ID them.  But going back to the topic of death, these insects are seen as evil in many cultures.  In movies like Silence of the Lambs or El Norte, they are used as symbols that reinforce these deadly views.

Apatelodes pudefacta (Type of Sphinx moth)

And that scares me more than anything else in this world.  Every species of plant, insect, mammal, bird, reptile, etc etc plays an important role.  So why feel the need to kill it? So my advice to this young lady is...."Don't kill the moth.  You'll be okay."

Carales arizonensis (a tiger moth;left) and Isabella Tiger Moth

This post seriously took hours to do and if I've ID'd incorrectly please let me know. I can label some things off from the top of my head by just looking at them.....not so much with this group:) I said to a volunteer, "There are a lot of moths out here today!"(as there had just been a recent rain).  She replied in a happy tone, "Oh you haven't seen anything!!!  Did you see this area outside?"  "Um, no."  I got outside and did an inner groan.  They are so cool to look at but I see hours of work researching their names afterwards......and so the photography was the easy part of this post.  Have you been in this situation?  You see cool stuff but fight the urge to not photograph because you'll have to ID later on(and you know it's going to be a bear!)

The Black Witch Moth

Luckily the moth that this young lady was describing is an easy answer.  The Black Witch Moth is awesome and found in the Southwestern part of the United States.  They live in Mexico.  They love drinking orange Fanta soda or rotten bananas.  It could be a cruel joke to play on supersticious people but I'd fear for the moths life and if we don't stop these crazy human thoughts, we're going to make them all go extinct.  More beauty on the way....