Meet the Butterfly of Death or Sphinx Butterfly

The Butterfly of Death is a kind of flying insect that, due to its peculiar color contrast, has had a dark connotation throughout history for many people. If you want to know more about this interesting animal, we invite you to continue reading this interesting article.

DEATH BUTTERFLY

death butterfly

One of the strangest insects that inhabit the mountains in different areas of the ancient continent is the famous death butterfly (Acherontia arthropos). It is also one of the largest Lepidoptera as its forewings can reach 10 cm in length and weigh up to 9 grams. This completely nocturnal type of activity has a fast and boisterous flight and is often attracted by light and the smell of sweet substances, thus often invading human homes and bakeries.

The chest of this butterfly has a yellow circular pattern with two black dots reminiscent of a skull. For this reason, it has become part of many stories and legends that consider it the messenger of death, because in addition, when it feels in danger, it emits a complaining sound produced by the air that it sucks through a narrow slit in its oral apparatus. . It is easy to imagine the horror these insects caused when they entered houses in the middle of the night and made such noises while displaying the eerie figure of a skull engraved on their backs.

It is for this reason alone that popular superstition claimed that the house he had entered heralded that very soon a loved one would very soon transcend himself and leave the world of the living. Since they sometimes entered the rooms of the sick or dying who were soon to die, this belief was firmly reinforced and inscribed in the collective memory of the inhabitants of many rural villages. Unfortunately, due to these false superstitions, he was mercilessly persecuted and crushed for years.

Double offspring in one year of the Butterfly of Death

Each year the species can develop two generations, that is, one offspring after another in a relatively short time. The specimens of the first generation fly in late spring, while those of the second do so in late summer and early fall. In contrast, in the northernmost regions of Europe, it only has one generation, followed by the caterpillar and the chrysalis. The larval stage of members of the first generation occurs in early summer, while those of the second in mid-autumn.

Skull sphinx caterpillars come in two different colors, one brown and one yellow. Both have an S-shaped appendage. At the back, when forming the chrysalis, the caterpillar digs a 20 cm hole in the ground. Often when potatoes are harvested by hand, the chrysalis appears between them, reddish-brown in color. The caterpillars feed mainly on potatoes, as well as tomatoes, aubergines or carrots, but they do not disdain oleanders, tobacco, Jimson grass, wine grapes or fava beans.

To achieve this, they are usually introduced into the hives, which usually costs them their lives, since the bees flock to sting them. On the other hand, the death butterfly has few demands on its habitat. It preferably occupies low-lying land. It is also found in fields and warm mid-mountain areas. Every year, more or less groups of this species fly from Africa to northern Europe and go more or less far, depending on weather conditions.

In favorable years they even reach Iceland. The distribution area covers the entire Eurasian supercontinent. It is a highly airborne and migratory species that crosses the Mediterranean on its migratory journey, despite being sedentary south of the Alps. Further north, the wintering caterpillars die with the first frosts. The number of populations of this species varies greatly from year to year. In cold periods, their numbers decrease, but when warm years return, they fly in greater numbers. An accurate count of this butterfly is very difficult because it only actively flies late at night.

How can it be detected?

This type of flying insect has a thick, elongated body and triangular front wings, the back of which is gray or blackish with two yellowish stripes and a few red-brown spots. The upper part of the hind wings is yellow with two serrated black lines. In its normal resting position, it goes completely unnoticed as its color mimics the bark of trees. When it is spotted by the eyes of a bird, it suddenly opens its wings and the bright color of its outline confuses the bird for an instant, a moment that it takes advantage of to escape.

The Butterfly of Death in popular culture

She became famous through the movie The Silence of the Lambs, as her drawing earned her a negative reputation and associated her with evil supernatural forces, which is why she has appeared in movies like the one mentioned above and An Andalusian Dog. Many superstitions claim that this butterfly brings bad luck to the houses it enters. He is also mentioned in one of the chapters of the Dracula novel. In the film The Warning, based on the homonymous novel by Paul Pen, he repeatedly appeared and illustrated episodes of the protagonist's schizophrenia.

DEATH BUTTERFLY

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