One really big moth

Although you can't really tell from the picture, this moth is 4.5 - 5 inches across.

man, you see the coolest things ;)

It might be a butterfly. Assume you have not ID'ed it yet? I just paged through all my FL ID books and couldn't find it. I have one international reference to look through, then it's on to the net...

Really...a butterfly? Cool. Thanks for looking BG. I haven't had a chance yet.

After some additional searching, it looks a beat-up Black Witch moth (Ascalapha odorata):
http://www.inra.fr/Internet/Produits/PAPILLON/noctuid/ophideri/texteng/a_odorat.htm

This picture was really cool (perhaps taken with a black light overhead?): http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ak5t-kmn/hawaii/j00de13m.htm

Some additional info on this moth (from http://aeaq.ca/_disc1/00000e4f.htm ):

The Black Witch (Ascalapha odorata) is the largest moth in the United States. It was originally described by Carl Linnaeus, the father of taxonomy, in 1758, type locality, "America". It belongs to the family Noctuidae, the largest family within the order Lepidoptera, with more than 2900 species in U.S. and Canada. This species was known as Erebus odora and other names in earlier literature.

It's a large dark brown bat-like moth with a variegated darker-brown pattern. Its wing span ranges between 4" and 6". The females are slightly larger and lighter than males and have a pale median band through their wings. Both sexes have paired dark eye spots along the trailing edge of their hindwings. External links to photographs:

Male (upper) and Female (lower) Black Witch

Male / Male (showing violet sheen) / Female

Black Witches are very common throughout tropical America and fly year round in south Texas and south Florida. Its common on the Caribbean Islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, particularly in late summer. From June through October, it migrates north from Mexico sometimes reaching destinations as far as Newfoundland, Alberta and Alaska. Holland (1903) reports collecting a specimen in Leadville, Colorado, in a snow storm on the Fourth of July. It was caught fluttering about in the drifts! Rings et al. (1992) shows late May to late October records for Ohio. It has been taken in nine Ohio counties. Wormington reported nine occurrences at Point Pelee National Park, Ontario, Canada between 1993 and 2001.

It sure looks like the female to me. Thanks for all the info Mandy!
I particularly liked this line: "While not pests, they are regarded by the superstitious as a harbinger of death." Great! It's the first one I've seen...LOL

Back in the early 1990's when I was studying insects in Honduras, we were literally inundated with black witch moths one foggy night. There were hundreds (no kidding) at our mercury vapor lamp setup (run by portable generators) that we placed in a remote high elevation cloud forest.

Here in CA I have only seen a few of them over the past 20 years. They (along with other rare butterflies and moths)stray up here from Mexico during heavy monsoonal flows that drift over our way on occasion.

Wow, that is so interesting and Floridian you lucky girl get to see one!

Hello Guy!! Always a pleasure to see you here. We miss you!All those moths must have been something to see. Probably a pain at the time but awesome to look back at. Mother Nature showing you a little miracle!
Weeds this picture was taken at my sister's office. She always calls me when there is something like this to see. Oddly we work in the same neighborhood and so does our brother

Nothing like family togetherness!