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Two Sphinxes from Canada: Modest Sphinx and Blinded Sphinx

Posted by July 3rd, 2006 at 12:00 am

Categories

Hummingbird Moths, Sphinx Moths or Hawk Moths

amazing moths
Hey Bugman!
My son and I found these beauties at Moose Lake in south-eastern Manitoba, Canada and took these at about 11:30 p.m. June 25th. They were both of similar size, but we didn’t think to measure or estimate. We were too excited! What are they?
Laurell

Modest Sphinx Blinded Sphinx


Hi Laurell,
Letters like yours are causing us to mentally curse at our internet provider, Earthlink. Since being downgraded to dialup, the time spent answering just one letter has multiplied significantly. We downloaded your first 1.8M image, and it took about 15 minutes. It is a Modest Sphinx, Pachysphinx modesta, also sometimes called the Big Poplar Sphinx. The Big Poplar Sphinx is also the common name for a closely related species, Pachysphinx occidentalis. We are still waiting to see what your other moth might be. Your second Sphinx is a Blinded Sphinx, Paonias excaecatus.

Related Posts

  1. Mating Modest Sphinxes (July 3, 2005)
  2. Mating Western Poplar Sphinxes (July 22, 2008)
  3. Mating Big Poplar Sphinxes: Pale Form (June 21, 2008)
  4. Modest Sphinx (June 7, 2007)
  5. Western Poplar Sphinx (August 8, 2007)

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