First one: I was very young when this happened, about 4 or 5, and this happened in the early-mid 2000s. I have a distinct memory of a freakishly large moth flying into my home in Edison, NJ, and my parents’ attempts to evict it. I only saw it from a distance, being too scared to come closer, but I r…

Hi @ash2016 !! About your first insect memory could be a black witch moth (genus Ascalapha)!! Here in Ecuador (and other countries in Latin America) Ascalapha odorata is considered a harbinger of death… about your second insect…ufff so difficult… it could be anything!! even a mantid … surely someone …

I’ve actually considered the NJ moth being the black witch in the past, but I’d say that the NJ moth was longer vertically (like this moth ), rather than being longer horizontally as the black witch is. Thanks anyways!

For the second one the type of flight can help you, mantis or katydid flight is not that of a moth, think about it and which sounds it produced while flying.

if not a black witch, if i hear “freakishly large moth”, my first thought is some sort of Saturniid moth. a lot of these are really big, and they should be relatively common in your area. i think something like the Pine Devil (Citheronia sepulcralis, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/15348771 )…

For the first one, one of the larger sphinx moths might fit as well – they have elongated shapes when they land.

Large dark brown moth with triangular shape makes me think Sphingidae, Sphinx or Hawkmoths, perhaps the common Manduca sexta or Manduca quinquemaculatus.

yup… now that i think harder about it, one of the common hornworms probably does make the most sense. i think @ash2016 should create an observation for it, even if it is casual. or if there is drawing from a 4- or 5-year-old ash2016, we might be able to get it to research grade. maybe attach the ob…

Could someone help me identify two different insects from my memory?

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Could someone help me identify two different insects from my memory?

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