A huge caterpillar discovered in a man’s garden could turn into a rare moth depicted in The Silence of the Lambs.
John Loftus found the brightly-coloured larva in his garden in Beacon Road, Broadstairs, and was shocked by its size.
The 43-year-old called for his wife, who took a picture and shared it with family on their WhatsApp group.
And relatives soon identified it as a rare death’s-head hawkmoth, which is seen in folklore as an omen of death or bad luck, and can grow almost five inches long.
It also has links with the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs, which stars Jodie Foster as FBI trainee Clarice Starling, Ted Levine as serial killer Buffalo Bill and Sir Antony Hopkins as the cannibalistic Hannibal Lecter.
Music tech worker John said: “I was walking down the garden and spotted the caterpillar.
“I called my partner to grab some pictures and we sent them to family on WhatsApp, and her dad identified it.
“We discovered it becomes the moth which has a distinctive pattern which looks like a human skull.
“We did some research and it has probably buried itself for a couple of weeks in the garden, which is apparently what happens.
“So we’re going to keep an eye out for it.”
The death’s-head hawkmoth is a name given to three species of large moths in the genus Acherontia. The one most commonly linked to the UK is Acherontia atropos.
It gets its name from the distinctive skull-like pattern on its thorax, which has given it an eerie reputation for centuries.
In folklore, it has often been seen as an omen of death or bad luck.
The moth is famous for its role in The Silence of the Lambs, where its image appears on the film’s iconic poster and is linked to the serial killer Buffalo Bill’s obsession with transformation.
As caterpillars, they can grow up to 12cm long and are bright green or yellow with blue diagonal stripes. They feed mainly on plants like potato, deadly nightshade or privet.
The adult moth can squeak when disturbed – it makes this noise by forcing air through its proboscis, which is unusual among moths.
In Britain, the death’s-head hawkmoth is a scarce migrant, arriving from southern Europe or Africa in late summer and autumn, according to Butterfly Conservation.
It does not breed here regularly, so finding its caterpillar in a garden is rare.
Confirming the species, local wildlife expert Nik Mitchell, who runs the Facebook page Get Wild, said: “It is quite a rarity.
“Only a few show up and they are generally migrants.”
