inalea
Oklahoma
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 2:43 pm Post subject: The biggest butterfly I've ever seen! |
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This morning I saw the biggest butterfly I've ever seen. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture of it. We live in the Oklahoma City area, and at first we thought it was a bat. It's wingspan was easily 6 - 7 inches and it was mostly black. Almost no markings at all. Just some dark gray or dark brown maybe. It landed on our patio furniture for a minute and it kept it's wings open while it was still. It had the classic butterfly shape to the wings, but not like a swallowtail. Does anyone have an idea what it might have been?
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toni
 Administrator
Plants Moderator
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North Texas, Zone 8a
Posts: 11251
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| Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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Hi inalea, welcome to GardenStew. Hope you will hang around for a long time.
Like the saying goes....a picture is worth a thousand words. So without a picture, we need more words.
You said it had some markings...where they spots, stripes, etc.
Were the wings only on the upper part of the body? If so it could have been a moth.
Classic butterfly shaped wings can mean many things depending on what part of the world you live in.
You might check out butterfliesandmoths.com to see if you can find the shape you saw and possible get an idea of what it was.
The largest butterfly in north America is the Giant Swallowtail with a wing span between 4"-6"
The largest moth in the U.S. is the Cecropia Moth with a 5"-6" wingspan and is brightly colored so that couldn't be it.
There is a White-plagued sphinx Manduca albiplaga with a wingspan of up to 7" that is black with greyish white markings, but there has only been one reported sighting of it in the U.S. and that was in eastern Kansas. It's normal range is between Brazil and southern Mexico.
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inalea
Oklahoma
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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Well, after looking at many, many photos of butterflies and moths, I'm pretty sure it was a Black Witch Moth. Several of the descriptions I read said that it is sometimes mistaken for a bat. I think it was a male. I don't know if they are common around the OKC area or not, but I'm almost 50 years old and this was the first time I've ever seen one.
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toni
Administrator
Plants Moderator
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North Texas, Zone 8a
Posts: 11251
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| Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 9:50 pm Post subject: |
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Their natural habitat is from Mexico down to Brazil but they can be found in northern Mexico along the Rio Grande river year round. The one you saw could have been blown up your way by Hurricane Dolly this year or an earlier relative could have been blown up by Rita a few years ago.
If you ever do get a picture of it, submit it to the butterfliesandmoths.com site and let them put it on their map.
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To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with Spring ----
George Santayana
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jakrum421
Wisconsin
Posts: 115
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| Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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I've never seen one of these beauties, but it sure would be spectacular. Check out this link. Scroll down to the 8th pic.
http://whatsthatbug.com/moths.html
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"It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy." Lucille Ball
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inalea
Oklahoma
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 3:13 am Post subject: |
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Yes! That's definitely what I saw!
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