Tumgik
#acherontia atropos
heartnosekid · 9 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
death’s head hawkmoth (acherontia atropos) | source
(the source video showcases the moth squeaking if you would like to hear it!!)
1K notes · View notes
libraryofmoths · 7 months
Text
Moth of the Week
African Death’s-Head Hawkmoth
Acherontia atropos
Tumblr media
The African death's-head hawkmoth is part of the family Sphingidae and is the most widely recognized of the three species of Death’s-Head Hawkmoth. The species was described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus. Its common name comes from the skull shape on the back of its thorax. It’s binomial name: comes from the river Acheron in Greece, which was believed to lead to the Underworld, and the Greek goddess Atropos respectively.
Description The forewings are black/brown with mottled shades of brown while the hindwings are buff orange with two black/brown stripes that curve with the edge of the hindwing. The head and thorax are the same black/brown color as the forewings interrupted by the brown skull on the back of the thorax. The abdomen is the same buff color as the hindwings with similar stripes of the same color. There is also a single stripe down the center of the abdomen called the “dorsal stripe.”
Average Wingspan: 13 cm (5 in)
Females are large than males with a rounded abdomen tip and larger, thicker antennae
Males have a pointed abdomen tip
Diet and Habitat Larva of this species mainly eat the leaves of potato plants which have alkaloids. The larva accumulate these toxins to become unpalatable to predators. Adults eat the nectar of flowers and stolen honey from the beehives of the Western Honey Bee. They are able to mimic the scent of bees and steal the honey undetected. They use their proboscis, a tube used to drink nectar and honey, to break the honey comb.
Their ranges stretches from the Middle East, as far south as the southern tip of Africa, as far north as southern Great Britain, as far east as India and western Saudi Arabia, and as far west as the Canary Islands and Azores. It is known to move into western Eurasia, but a majority do not survive the winter.
Mating This moth has multiple generations per year. In Africa, the broods are continuous. In the northern range, the larva overwinter in the pupal stage. Eggs are laid singly on the underside of species in mainly Solanaceae but also Physalis, Verbenaceae, Cannabaceae, Oleaceae, Pedaliaceae and others.
Predators This moth can emit a special squeak noise by sucking in air to vibrate a flap in its mouth and throat. The purpose of this squeak is unclear, but the two hypotheses are it is to scare away predators or to mimic the sound of a queen bee makes for the workers to stop moving to easier raid beehives for honey. They are also immune to bee venom and can mimic the scent of bees.
Fun Fact This moth has appeared many times in pop culture as symbols of death and evil:
It appeared in The Hireling Shepherd, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Un Chien Andalou, the promotional marquee posters for The Silence of the Lambs, in the music video to Massive Attack's single, "Butterfly Caught,” and on the American edition's cover of José Saramago's novel Death with Interruptions.
It is mentioned in Susan Hill's Gothic horror novel I'm the King of the Castle and John Keats’s "Ode to Melancholy.”
It is referred to in The Mothman Prophecies.
Finally, the moth is used as a calling card by the serial killer Buffalo Bill. However, in the movie script they are referred to under a different species of death’s-head hawkmoths.
(Source: Wikipedia, Simple English Wikipedia)
161 notes · View notes
onenicebugperday · 8 months
Text
Tumblr media
@jelly-mean submitted: Also an acherontia atropos i found in my backyard. Was very excited by the correct id, thought I might share with a fellow bug enthusiast.
My fav bug in the whole world :') So lucky you get to see them just out and about!
181 notes · View notes
moths-daily · 1 year
Note
Hey, I was just wondering if you could cover the death's head hawkmoth, which is known for its unique skull-like pattern. They can also squeak, which I find adorable.
Moth Of The day #21
Death's-head Hawk-moth
Acherontia atropos, acherontia styx, acherontia lachesis
The death's-head hawk-moth refers to any of three moth species in the Acherontia genus. These are the African death's-head (A. atropos), the lesser death's head (A. styx) and the greater death's-head (A. lachesis). They belong to the sphingidae family.
They have a wingspan of about 13cm, which equals 5 inches. They are most commonly found in gardens. The A. atropos is found throughout Europe and Africa, meanwhile A. styx and A. lachesis are found in Asia. The use of the common name usually refers to A. atropos.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Thank you, anon, for your suggestion. This is a very beloved moth by us.
200 notes · View notes
Tumblr media
294 notes · View notes
filocybin · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
43 notes · View notes
senjukannon · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
7 notes · View notes
abrujita · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media
181023
Acherontia atropos (sort of)
Pattern by TheEmbroideryPlaceAU // Embroidery by me.
Tumblr media
5 notes · View notes
rbade-art · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media
0 notes
mortidefae · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media
I saw a death's-head hawkmoth caterpillar this night hanging around my garden.
1 note · View note
heartnosekid · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
death's head hawkmoth (acherontia atropos) | source
434 notes · View notes
spaceysoupy · 1 year
Text
Personally, I say to hell with avian Grian. If he and Pearl are siblings give them both moth wings you fucking cowards
33 notes · View notes
onenicebugperday · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media
@daughter-of-aletheia​ submitted: I believe this is an Acherontia atropos caterpillar, and it was found in germany. It was huge!
Tumblr media
Oh wow HUGE friend. And what a beautiful outfit they’re wearing. Yes, it does indeed look like Acherontia atropos! One of my favorite species, and one of only a couple I’ve ever had submitted before! People may of course recognize the adult more than the caterpillar:
Tumblr media
It’s a death’s head hawkmoth :) Photo by permin-vadim
173 notes · View notes
auroblaze · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Sonic Frontiers DLC dropped and since then I've been consumed and obsessed to put it lightly, that on spare times at work I stopped to doodle down what I thought The End could've been like 👀👉👈
More thoughts in depth about the final boss after the cut:
Okay so here's the thing, I went into the final battle expecting it to be like the one from the base game but with, more ( like most of us did I assume). The fact is, while technically it was like that, I found myself missing some details I liked from the original one, such as obviously The End's speech and the overall vibe... heck I made a three pages comic about it, so SOMETHING was done right there, otherwise it wouldn't have me inspired at all.
The new final battle was still a great spectacle to me, mind you! It genuinely hyped me through the whole run! I simply was expecting The End to eventually reveal it's...not even true form I guess, because it says to have multiple incarnations and I think that kind of makes sense. But A different form from the gigantic moon would've been pretty dope to see nontheless. From the trailer I was sure that the "seven arms possessed Supreme" was gonna take the place of regular Supreme. I didn't quite get why The End would use Supreme again since the first time clearly didn't work..? I mean the battle was still amazing but frankly there are many choices in the story I didn't understand djfhgdg... I hope the next title puts some more effort on the story too because they are really *so close*!
I started to think that, since the game proposes you as island/level bosses the Titans... as something different (as it usually works for the final battles in sonic games) it could have worked that The End was gonna fight Sonic at his level, almost his size. I mean the game is clearly full of anime references so this wouldn't have been that much weird to see lmao.
The last picture in this post was actually the first bunch of sketches I did before the release of the DLC. At first I imagined The End as like, an alien death's-head hawkmoth (Acherontia atropos if u prefer) that could shapeshift in different adversaries based on Sonic's memories, right because of its speech to him about "seeing into his mind" and all his past challenges. I wanted also to add another anime influence on his appearence by making it kind of like the Anti-Spiral boss from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
The sketches AFTER the DLC are also various other ideas from the brainrot sjghdf, it's mostly The End picking the Ancients' technology design as mockery, and Sonic going all-out continues to be a thing because that genuinely slapped👀👀👀
867 notes · View notes
Tumblr media Tumblr media
𝔇𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔥’𝔰-𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝔥𝔞𝔴𝔨𝔪𝔬𝔱𝔥
448 notes · View notes
queerlecter · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
Acherontia atropos (the African death's-head hawkmoth) | cross stitch | august 2023
169 notes · View notes