|
Fellow creatures in the urban jungle
|
September 04, 2005
|
« SHF #11, Coffee: Molasses-coffee cookie recipe | Main | First SF Dinner Party: Menu »
Never underestimate the diversity of the urban jungle. As Rebecca and I were walking to B44 with friends Steve and Nicole, we ran across this creature resting, nonchalant, on the ground. When I looked over, after hearing Steve squeal like a kindergardener make a manly exclamation, I saw a dark shape at his feet that at first I thought was a small bat. But no, it was a moth with wings nearly the length of the span of my hand.
Rebecca picked it up and brought it over to the light, where I snapped a picture of it with my phone. I wonder if it's native to this area? Stranger creatures have made longer journeys, no doubt.
Black Witch moth?
After a few minutes' searching on the internet, we're reasonably certain that this is a Black Witch moth (Ascalapha odorata), which, while not native to this area, does fly up from regions south, particularly in the summer. It has wingspans of up to seven inches and is the largest moth -- and perhaps the largest insect -- you'll ever see in the wild, north of Mexico. You won't be surprised to find out, given its size and shape, that it is sometimes mistaken for a bat, and not just by me. This one is probably a male -- the females are even larger.
September 4, 2005 in NonFood | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8345589be69e200d834559caa53ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Fellow creatures in the urban jungle:
Comments
yes, but how do you cook that?
Posted by: desyl at Sep 4, 2005 5:52:18 PM
Perhaps like this:
http://www.thaibugs.com/edible%20insects.htm
http://tftb.com/deify/TiliquasMothPaste.html
http://www.kavenga.com.au/rec/rec%20popm.htm
Posted by: Orion at Sep 4, 2005 6:10:20 PM
good question desyl, I am curious too how do you cook it ?
Posted by: shoeseal at Sep 6, 2005 9:03:52 PM
Oh, man, if that had been me, it would have been a full blown case of hysterics. Yow. Moths creep me out, big time.
I just found your blog coming from and IMBB listing, and it looks great, funny and full of good recipes. Happy to be here.
Posted by: B'gina at Oct 14, 2005 1:20:05 PM
