Bee Hawkmoth Caterpillar in genus Cephonodes from Australia, but what species???

bugman

December 19th, 2009 at 8:46 pm

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caterpillars found on gardenias in cairns
December 19, 2009
Dear Bugman, I am wondering if this is the bee hawkmoth I saw on your website from another lady. Our caterpillars are a little different colour wise to the picture on your website. They have a bluse stripe on their back, red and black dots above he leg pairs, and fine yellow and red stripes down the sides. They are bright green with a large spike at the back. They are (so far) up to 5cm long.
Leith B
Cairns,Australia

Bee Hawkmoth Caterpillar

Dear Leith,
The Bee Hawkmoths in the genus Cephonodes are represented by at least four species in Australia that are listed on the Moths of Australia Website, and from what we have researched, they all feed on gardenia. The caterpillars are somewhat variable, and though they resemble your specimen, none are an exact match. Our first choice is Cephonodes hylas, the Coffee Hawkmoth, which can be found on the Moths of Australia website, and the caterpillar is pictured on a stamp. The Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic website has images of the caterpillars that look very similar to your photo. The caterpillars of the Gardenia Bee Hawk, Cephonodes kingii, are quite colorful as pictured on the Moths of Australia website. We cannot locate an image of the caterpillar of Cephonodes picus, but it is described on the Moths of Australia website as “These caterpillars are usually green, with pale lines along the back and each side.”

Dear Daniel, many thanks for that. We agree it looks like cephonodes hylas. It’s nice to know what it is going to turn into!
Kind Regads, Leith Banney and John EVans, Cairns.

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From Bee Hawkmoth Caterpillar from Australia | What's That Bug? on 30 Dec 2009 at 3:45 am ¶
[...] We are nearly certain this is the caterpillar of the Bee Hawkmoth, Cephonodes hylas. We posted a photo of another caterpillar also from Australia a few weeks ago. You may also compare to the caterpillar images on the [...]