Death's-head Hawk-moth

• It can produce an audible squeak by forcing air out through its proboscis, something unique among butterflies and moths.
• It enters hives to steal honey: it mimics the chemical make-up of the bees' scent, so that they do not recognise it as an intruder, and its thick cuticle withstands the stings it does receive.
• The skull marking and its habit of coming into houses at night have surrounded it with superstition for centuries, and given it a prominent role in literature and film.
• It bears a marking on its thorax that looks like a human skull, and that mark has given it a sinister reputation for centuries: it was associated with death and omens, and it appears in The Silence of the Lambs and in works by Bram Stoker.
• It squeaks. When disturbed it emits an audible squeak by forcing air out through its proboscis, a mechanism unique among butterflies and moths.
• It raids beehives. It enters the combs to steal honey, and does so protected by a chemical signature: its cuticle carries fatty acids that mimic the smell of the hive itself, so the bees do not recognise it as an intruder.
• Its proboscis is short and stout, adapted to piercing wax cappings rather than sipping at flowers.
• It is a powerful migrant: it reaches northern Europe from Africa every year, but the northern populations do not survive the winter.
• The caterpillar is enormous, up to 13 cm, and feeds mainly on nightshades, including potato and bittersweet.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat & environment

Open country and farmland in Africa, southern Europe and the Near East; it migrates north in summer, reaching as far as the United Kingdom and Scandinavia without being able to overwinter there

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acherontia_atropos

Best time: Summer and autumn, when the migrants arrive from Africa