It was described by Maria Sibylla Merian in her 1705 publication Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, and Pieter Cramer provided the formal description of the species in 1776.

[1] The white witch occurs from Uruguay to Mexico, and appears as a stray as far north as Texas in the U.S.[2] Collection dates shows no discernible pattern with respect to location or season.

One story of the derivation of the common name: early naturalists collected specimens of birds and bats with shotguns.

Firing a cloud of pellets at a white witch moth did not necessarily bring it down, however, because the body is small relative to the wing area.

Given the enormous geographic range of the adult, and observations that date back 300 years, it is striking that the immature life stages of this species have never been documented (notwithstanding the erroneous Merian painting).