Acherontia atropos: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the acherontia atropos lives – recorded in 21 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Acherontia atropos
Group	Butterflies & moths
Found in	21 countries
Continents	Africa, Europe
Diet (main food)	tomato
Class	Insect
Order	Lepidoptera
Family	Sphingidae

Where does the acherontia atropos live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the acherontia atropos in 21 countries and territories across Africa and Europe.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What does an acherontia atropos eat?

Wikidata lists the main food source of the acherontia atropos as: tomato.

What kind of animal is the acherontia atropos?

The acherontia atropos (Acherontia atropos) is an insect in the order Lepidoptera and the family Sphingidae, genus Acherontia. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the acherontia atropos

Acherontia atropos, the African death's-head hawkmoth, is the most widely recognized of three species within the genus Acherontia (the other two being Acherontia lachesis and Acherontia styx). It is most commonly identified by the vaguely skull-shaped pattern adorning the thorax, the characteristic from which its common and scientific names are derived. The species was first given its scientific name by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.

Death's-head hawk moths are large, ranging from 3.5 to 5 inches (80–120 mm) as adults. The upper wings are dark, creating a stark contrast between them and the lower wings, which range from a bright yellow to a light cream, yellow being the more common.

A. atropos appears in popular fiction and media, including The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Dracula (1958), and The Blood Beast Terror (1967).

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Acherontia atropos (revision 1354628420), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q41524 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).