Black Witch Moths and Tropical Storms

I occasionally receive reports of Black Witch moths near where hurricanes or tropical storms came ashore,
but only storms Claudette (2003) and Cindy (2005) generated BWMs reports in the 100s to 1000s range.

The eye of Hurricane Claudette hit Port O'Connor, Texas on July 15, 2003.
Here's Brush Freeman's account:

"We went directly through the eye where winds dropped from ~110 mph to near 0 in just a matter of a few minutes." [...]

"As we began scanning the bay [looking for vagarant birds] we quickly became aware of large numbers of Black Witches flying over the very rough waters. We soon realized that these moths were literally everywhere, many had made landfall and were flying around the homes on the beach. More than 10 were seeking shelter in the rafters under the Hockey’s balcony alone. All in all we estimated that there must have been hundreds along the front beach or over the bay and every scope view of the bay produced one toseveral individuals." [...]

"After the storm’s passage we were busy with clean up and repairs but not so busy that we did not have the time to see these moths
in virtually every nook and cranny where they had sought shelter" [...]

"After the storm’s passage we were busy with clean up and repairs but not so busy that we did not have the time to see these moths
in virtually every nook and cranny where they had sought shelter."

Separately, John Barrow's reported after arriving at his home in Port O'Connor, "I observed 75-100 perching on my house--in the garage area--on the walls and ceiling when I arrived in POC two days after the storm passage. Would have been 7/18. Numbers diminshed each day and after 3 or 4 days they were all gone."

The eye basically passed directly over us. We had tremendous rain, substantial wind then about 2 hours of calm. Then it hit, winds from the North at 70-80mph..

I wound have to say thousands, as I have been seeing numerous moths everywhere I go. And the people on the island keep calling. They think they are butterflies that escaped when the Grand Isle Butterfly Dome was destroyed in the storm. I am the editor of the local paper, and did an article on black witches, after a smaller fallout last year. I am having to educate people numerous times every day, explaining that they are not butterflies or BATS.

Both reports were made right where the eye of each storm came ashore

Arrows indicate direction and point of landfall that the eye of each storm took

Note that both Claudette and Cindy crossed Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula,
the probable source of the BWMs deposited in the U.S.

Dotted lines on (clickable) maps show the track that the eye of each storm took

Post Tropical Storm Cindy BWM Reports Follow the Path of the Storm

Mississippi	Harrison Co.	Gulfport	05 July 2005	fresh female, clipped male, pix (seen by MAQ)
Mississippi	Jackson Co.	Ocean Springs	6-8 July 2005	~10, photos of many (seen by MAQ)
Louisiana	Jefferson Parish	Grand Isle	07 July 2005	"Thousands" at eye of TS's landfall
Mississippi	Harrison Co.	Long Beach	07 July 2005	male observed
Mississippi	Harrison Co.	Gulfport	08 July 2005	2 males, 2 females, in fig tree, pix (seen by MAQ)
Mississippi	Harrison Co.	Biloxi	08 July 2005	"multiple males and females"
Louisiana	St. Bernard Parish	Arabi	08 July 2005
Louisiana	Plaquemines Parish	Buras/Venice	7-8 July 2005	Two in two days
Louisiana	Jefferson Parish	Marrero	08 July 2005
Louisiana	Orleans Parish	New Orleans	08 July 2005	male, photo (seen by MAQ)
Mississippi	Harrison Co.	Pass Christian	10 July 2005	female, photo (seen by MAQ)
Louisiana	Orleans Parish	New Orleans	11 July 2005	2 males, in Business District Downtown
Louisiana	E Baton Rouge Pa.	Baton Rouge	16 July 2005	worn male, photo (seen by MAQ)

News article on the BWMs in MS associated with TS Cindy

Black Witch Moths Popping Up

Prior to TS Cindy, this is the singular BWM record from Mississippi that I have specific data for:

In 34 years of continuous light trapping in Louisiana, Vernon Brou (2003) collected
about 25 Black Witch specimens, with most records collected in September.

Brou, V.A., Jr. 2003. Ascalapha odorata (L.) and Thysania zenobia (Cram.) in Louisiana.
Southern Lepidopterists' News 25(3): 91. Full PDF

Both TS Arlene and Hurricane Dennis made landfall on the northern Gulf Coast
before and after Tropical Storm Cindy in 2005 yet no BWMs were reported

	Landfall		Max	# of
Storm	Location	Date	Winds	BWMs
TS Arlene	Florida	11 June	70	0
TS Cindy	Louisiana	05 July	70	1000s
Hurr. Dennis	Florida	10 July	150	0

The storm tracks of Arlene or Dennis both missed the Yucatan Peninsula
further suggesting that Mexico was the origin of Claudette's and Arlene's BWMs

Dotted lines on (clickable) maps show the track that the eye of each storm took

Illustrations of Hurricane Wind Dynamics:

Request for Help

Please report new BWM county records to entomike@gmail.com
Please include date, location (distance to nearest town) & county of record.
Also please include sex, condition of moth & prevailing weather conditions.
If you find a new county record, please send a low resolution photo if possible.
Thanks, Mike

Black Witch Moths (Ascalapha odorata)
in the Eyes of Tropical Storms

Both reports were made right where the eye of each storm came ashore

Arrows indicate direction and point of landfall that the eye of each storm took

Note that both Claudette and Cindy crossed Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula,
the probable source of the BWMs deposited in the U.S.

Dotted lines on (clickable) maps show the track that the eye of each storm took

Post Tropical Storm Cindy BWM Reports Follow the Path of the Storm

News article on the BWMs in MS associated with TS Cindy

Black Witch Moths Popping Up

Prior to TS Cindy, this is the singular BWM record from Mississippi that I have specific data for:

In 34 years of continuous light trapping in Louisiana, Vernon Brou (2003) collected
about 25 Black Witch specimens, with most records collected in September.

Both TS Arlene and Hurricane Dennis made landfall on the northern Gulf Coast
before and after Tropical Storm Cindy in 2005 yet no BWMs were reported

The storm tracks of Arlene or Dennis both missed the Yucatan Peninsula
further suggesting that Mexico was the origin of Claudette's and Arlene's BWMs

Dotted lines on (clickable) maps show the track that the eye of each storm took

Illustrations of Hurricane Wind Dynamics:

Request for Help

Black Witch Moths (Ascalapha odorata) in the Eyes of Tropical Storms

Both reports were made right where the eye of each storm came ashore

Arrows indicate direction and point of landfall that the eye of each storm took

Note that both Claudette and Cindy crossed Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the probable source of the BWMs deposited in the U.S.

Dotted lines on (clickable) maps show the track that the eye of each storm took

Post Tropical Storm Cindy BWM Reports Follow the Path of the Storm

News article on the BWMs in MS associated with TS Cindy

Black Witch Moths Popping Up

Prior to TS Cindy, this is the singular BWM record from Mississippi that I have specific data for:

In 34 years of continuous light trapping in Louisiana, Vernon Brou (2003) collected about 25 Black Witch specimens, with most records collected in September.

Both TS Arlene and Hurricane Dennis made landfall on the northern Gulf Coast before and after Tropical Storm Cindy in 2005 yet no BWMs were reported

The storm tracks of Arlene or Dennis both missed the Yucatan Peninsula further suggesting that Mexico was the origin of Claudette's and Arlene's BWMs

Dotted lines on (clickable) maps show the track that the eye of each storm took

Illustrations of Hurricane Wind Dynamics:

Request for Help

Black Witch Moths (Ascalapha odorata)
in the Eyes of Tropical Storms

Note that both Claudette and Cindy crossed Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula,
the probable source of the BWMs deposited in the U.S.

In 34 years of continuous light trapping in Louisiana, Vernon Brou (2003) collected
about 25 Black Witch specimens, with most records collected in September.

Both TS Arlene and Hurricane Dennis made landfall on the northern Gulf Coast
before and after Tropical Storm Cindy in 2005 yet no BWMs were reported

The storm tracks of Arlene or Dennis both missed the Yucatan Peninsula
further suggesting that Mexico was the origin of Claudette's and Arlene's BWMs