Lyssa zampa

In the last few weeks, there have been hundreds of sightings of a huge moth in Singapore, the Lyssa zampa, also known as the Tropical Swallowtail Moth.  They have been spotted all over the island,  there are photos of them trending on Instagram, Facebook is cluttered with photos, people everywhere are talking about this bug.

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It’s huge!!  And yes, it is a normal resident of Singapore, all the time, but not normally seen.    But recently, there has been a sudden increase in the sightings of this moth, which hasn’t been seen in such large numbers as this since 2005.  Usually they are still during the daylight, resting lightly, until the sunset when they become active.  Like all moths, they are attracted to light, so those residents here who either don’t have or don’t use air conditioning and have their windows open have had these visiting moths come right into their homes.

 

Many have reported that they initially though it was a bat in their house, as the moth is so big, about the size of a human hand. It’s kind of ugly like a bat too.
There was one in our parking garage this week, as the boys and I were coming home from swim practice. The boys jumped out to take some photos, excited to see such a ginormous creature. Another moth was trapped in our elevator foyer for my building, where one of the guards at my condo was patiently holding the door open, just waiting for the moth to fly out.

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There is a Chinese superstition that these visiting moths that come right into homes are actually visiting dead relatives. 
I find the Chinese superstitions very interesting, I think I will have to research a bit more into them.

Today, when complaining to a friend that I have these teeny tiny, nearly microscopic ants in my house, everywhere, I was told that is good luck. What?? Ants in my home are good luck?? No, it’s only the teeny tiny ants. The big ants are bad luck. Well, that makes sense to me now. Everyone I know here has ants in their house, mostly the teeny tiny ones. There is no way of getting rid of the ants, there are so many they could probably pick me up in my sleep and carry me away. So yes, might as well believe that many teeny tiny ants is good luck!!

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