Grosser than Gross

Meet the Black Witch Moth.

(Blech. Ew. Shiver. Eye roll.)

They're native to Mexico and their wingspans can reach up to SEVEN inches. Ok, maybe not THAT big, but they're significantly larger than any moth I've ever seen in my entire life. I hate them, I hate them, I hate them.

(Some are football fans, though. One actually watched the OSU/Texas game with me on Saturday.)

TWO are currently sitting by the bathroom door, one IN the bathroom, at work. I am afraid to go to the bathroom, lest they attack me and steal my eyes.

They do not die easily, either. My brother tried to kill a couple of them the other night and it was ugly. As soon as he killed one, another appeared. They're in some sort of mob or something. I'm all for nature - but these are gross. They honestly look like little bats.

Check this out:

The Black Witch has a fascinating cultural as well as natural history. Known in Mexico by the Indians since Aztec times as mariposa de la muerte (butterfly of death). When there is sickness in a house and this moth enters, the sick person dies. (Hoffmann 1918) A variation on this theme heard in the lower Rio Grande Valley (Southmost Texas) is that death only occurs if the moth flies in and visits all four corners of one's house.

Ugh.