Black Witch Moth State Records
(Ascalapha odorata)

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Records: By Year // By Date // By TX County

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Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn


BWMs have been Recorded from all 50 States 
(except NH)

The "Red States" are 2004 records and demonstrate the western distribution for this insect.
The "Blue States" are historical state records that took many years to record.

Pre-2004 Records Shown in Blue (21) 2004 Records Shown in Red (30)


AK, AR, CT, DE, GA, ID, MA, MD, ME, MO, MS, ND*, NJ, NY, PA, 
SC, SD, TN, 
VA, WI, WV

AL, AZ, CA, CO, FL, HI, IA, IL, IN,
KS
KY, LAMI, MN, MT,
NC
, NE, NM, NV, OH, OK, OR,
RI, TX, UT, VT, WA, WY
Canada: ONT & QUE


2005 BWM Records (in order of appearance) (29 States & Provinces)


TX, FL, NM, KS, MD, WIS, MIN, AZ, MISS, LA, UT, CO, MO, 
DC,  SC, OH, IN, GA, OK, ARK, CA, ID, NY, PE, IL, AL, TE
Canada: ALB & ONT

Records for TX, NM, AZ, & CA by far outnumber the records for all other states & provinces combined!
(Many BWMs were also seen post Tropical Storm Cindy in Louisiana.)

Hundreds of BWMs were recorded from the southwestern states of CA, AZ, NM, & TX in 2004.

This is in sharp contrast to the total number of BWM records found for the following southeastern states:

Virginia  1
Missouri 2 Kentucky  1 North Carolina  1
Arkansas 5 Tennessee 1 South Carolina 4
Alabama 5 Georgia

5

Interestingly, the number of BWM records from Ontario, Canada (~24) 
exceeds the number known from the southeastern U.S. (excluding LA, MS, & FL).


The northernmost BWM record is from just west of Juneau in Auke Bay, Alaska:

Auke Bay, 4.X.1957 (vg Paul J. Spangler, 1957, A record of the black witch, Erebus odora (Noctuidae), in Alaska, 
The Journal of the Lepidopterist's Society 11(6):205).


Owl Moth (Thysania zenobia) has an eastern migratory distribution by contrast


Request for Help

Please report new BWM 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


24 Aug 2007 ©  Mike Quinnentomike@gmail.com / Texas Entomology