The white witch, Thysania agrippina ...
 WW and larva, third grade art
... is just one of 75,000 owlet moths, among millions of insect species.
But it stands out: with a wing span >30 cm, it is among the largest insects known. So it is pretty famous, and often depicted next to human hands and rulers and small children. The white witch flies over most of the New World tropics, from Argentina to Mexico, and occasionally as far north as Colorado in the United States. You would suppose that scientists must know the story of such an impressive organism. We don't. The egg, pupa, and caterpillar of T. agrippina are unknown. We don't know the larval habitat or host plant. We don't know if a moth observed in the city of Quito emerged in the adjacent highlands, or in a rainforest 1000 km distant. This site is about our quest to uncover the life history of the white witch. 
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Above: Thysania agrippina, typical daytime posture on lichen-covered tree trunk.
Left: Specimen collected in Brazil, displayed at Ohio Museum of Natural History |
To learn the life history of the white witch, we need your help. We're asking naturalists and academic researchers for their observations, photographs, and insight. We're looking for clues in museum collections from Yale to Argentina. We're optimistic that the data we collect and report on this site will get us to the right place, at the right time, to find the source of the spectacular white witch moth.
