Acherontia atropos
FAMILY
Sphingidae
TAXONOMY
Sphinx atropos Linnaeus, 1758, Europe.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Bee robber; German: Totenkopfschwärmer; French: Sphinx têtede-mort, fluturele cap-mort; Spanish: Mariposa de la muerte; Estonian: Tontsuru; Swedish: Dödskallefjäril;
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Adult has skull-like pattern on thorax. Large and heavily built, with 4.4–4.8 in (11–12 cm) wingspan. Dark forewings and yellow hind wings with black submarginal lines. Proboscis is short, stout, and hairy. Abdomen has yellow riblike markings. Larva is 4.8–5.2 in (12–13 cm) and colored yellow, green, or brown with a large posterior horn. Pupa grows to 3–3.2 in (7.57ndash;8 cm) long and is mahogany brown and glossy.
DISTRIBUTION
Afrotropical, extending north to Mediterranean; migrant in central and northern Europe.
HABITAT
Prefers dry and sunny locations; frequents open scrubs with solanaceous (nightshade) plants and cultivated areas where potato is grown.
BEHAVIOR
Larvae are inactive, moving only to find a fresh leaf; when disturbed, they click their mandibles and may even bite. Adults are active from dusk to midnight; during the day they rest on tree trunks, walls, or leaves on the ground. Attracted to light and occasionally to blossoms. Frequent beehives, where they rob honey. In defense, they mimic honeybees' cutaneous fatty acids and raise their wings, run, and hop around. When disturbed, they emit loud, shrill squeaks, forcing air out the proboscis, followed sometimes by secretion of moldy smell from glandular hairs in the abdomen.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Larvae prefer solanaceaous plants, especially potato. Short proboscis prevents adult from taking nectar from deep-set flowers; instead, they imbibe honey, juice from rotten fruits, and sap from trees.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Breed year-round in Africa; adults migrate to Europe from May to September but do not overwinter there. Eggs are laid singly underneath old leaves of host plant. Pupation takes place in a very fragile cocoon 6–16 in (15–40 cm) deep in the soil in a smooth-sided cavity.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not as common as it used to be, owing to use of insecticides.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
In Greek mythology, Atropos is the eldest of the three Fates, who severs the thread of life. The moth is considered a sinister creature because of its skull design and the loud sound emitted when it is disturbed. It once was thought to be a harbinger of war, pestilence, and death, and it has entered modern mythology as an emblem of perverted evil in the book and film Silence of the Lambs, in which the trademark of the serial murderer is a pupa placed in the mouth of his female victims, whom he later skins.
