Around Christmas last year, I began to collect facts and ideas about the white witch. I started a www site, WhiteWitchWatch. Some of the information there is what you'd find in google. But most of it came from the responses to questions I sent to scientists across Latin America and Europe. I also looked in some really old books, and interviewed the scientist with the largest collection of white witch specimens in the world.
Some things we know:
What we don't know:
Some things we know:
- The range of the white witch: Northern Argentina to Texas.
- The habitat of the adults: rainforest (but some specimens collected in high mountains and dry forests).
- Where to see dead specimens - there are 144 at the British Museum in London. (Here is my video of a visit to the museum)
- Where to see live moths, but only if you are lucky enough to be there at the right time, which we cannot predict.
- What experts to ask for advice.
What we don't know:
- Where the moths come from--they are strong fliers, so if you see a moth in Mexico, it may have flown there from Panama.
- How long the moths live - months? a year?
- What the caterpillars or eggs or cocoons look like.
- What plant the caterpillars eat.