Talk:Death's-head hawkmoth

A fact from Death's-head hawkmoth appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 3 August 2004. The text of the entry was as follows: Did you know... that the human skull? A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2004/August.

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Please note that this article was moved from

I have merged the histories now, everyting is in the history of this article now. --Sherool (talk) 07:49, 24 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

According to the pictures, they are going to be deleted soon, if that is true, I have personal pictures I can use to replace the current ones. - Kugamazog

This article has been included in the category Luck. Is this right. I am not aware of any connection with luck --Viren 08:57, 3 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted a worthless reference to WOW that wasn't sourced, in the wrong section, and a tenunous link at best 128.208.55.89 22:54, 3 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This seems to be a little contentious; for purposes of clarification, the movie promotional posters showed Acherontia atropos, which would also be the species most likely to be imported, and is by far the most well-known. However, according to the script, the shipment of larvae was from "Suriname" - but none of the moths in this genus occur in Suriname, or even this hemisphere, so this is a problem in trusting the script. The actual moths used in the movie were not even this genus; they were hornworm moths altered with a magic marker to make the "skull head" on the thorax. The quote from the movie script, at the only time a species name is uttered, is Agent Starling, meet Mr. Acherontia styx - so there is yet another conflict involving the script - this time, conflicting with the posters (and, also, the fact that the moth in his hand is not actually what he is calling it). Given that the only actual identifiable images of the moth are of atropos, and the fact that all of the other folklore and cultural references in history refer to atropos, it seems far better to discuss the link to the movie under atropos rather than under styx. Dyanega 18:20, 27 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• It also turns out that none of these sphinx moths appeared in the novel on which the movie was based; in the novel, the symbolic moth is the Black Witch, Ascalapha odorata. Dyanega (talk) 00:11, 11 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• The article mentions that the moth used in the novel was not a Death's-Head Moth, but I'm currently reading the novel right now and the name Death's-Head Moth is stated, as well as the scientific name Acherontia Styx. The entomologist also states that it's from Malaysia and raids beehives. There was also a reference to the moth chirping elsewhere in the book. I'm reading it as an ebook and I can't find publication information, so it may have been changed in later editions. I'm not changing the article, but I thought I'd mention it so that someone else with access to a copy of the book can check and edit if necessary. 74.129.72.81 (talk) 19:25, 7 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

• • I will confirm that later editions of the book have been modified to match the movie script more closely. The original edition of the book referred to the Black Witch.Dyanega (talk) 20:13, 7 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

• • • If it helps, the version I have mentions the Black Witch Moth in chapter 14 and then discusses the Death's-head Hawk Moth in 40. There were two victims with moths in their mouths and the first victim had a Black Witch Moth while the second had a Death"s-head Hawk Moth. 74.129.72.81 (talk) 21:54, 7 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

• • • • That might explain the discrepancy; the time I read the earlier edition, I don't think I made it all the way to chapter 40 (it was someone's borrowed copy, which I returned before finishing it), and when I browsed a more recent edition a short while ago, I may have seen chapter 40 rather than 15. It could be that there were no changes between editions, and both moths were referenced in different chapters. Thanks! Dyanega (talk) 22:13, 7 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]