Mating Moths
Hi
I took this picture one evening this summer. Could be a good one for the ‘love among the bugs’ page… Are these more ‘modest sphinxes’?
Paul Beadle
Devon, UK
Hi Paul,
Your Sphinxes are definitely immodest, and they are not Modest Sphinxes either. These are Poplar Hawkmoths, Laothoe populi. As might be expected, the larvae feed on poplar trees. When alarmed the moths reveal a red patch on the lower wings to frighten predators, as depicted in this image we located online.
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Posted 08 August 2005
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Tersa Sphinx?
Hi,
I followed this from caterpillar to chrysalis to moth. I wish I had taken some snaps of the caterpillar but I thought it might be a Palamedes Swallowtail (though it had a single horn that the swallowtail doesn’t). I was pretty surprised at what came out. I think that I have identified it as a Tersa Sphinx. I live in northeast Florida.
Richard Kevin Sharbaugh
Hi Richard,
Your Tersa Sphinx, Xylophanes tersa, metamorphosis images are a welcome addition to our site. Here is a list of larval food plants from the USGS site: Smooth buttonplant (Spermacoce glabra), starclusters (Pentas species), Borreria, Catalpa, and Manettia species.
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Posted 03 August 2005
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Vega Sphinx Moth?
Good Day!
I found your site while trying to ID this pretty, VERY green sphinx moth, and think I found it thanks to your links, at:
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/moths/az/1098.htm
So, I wondered if you’d like to see my photo, since I don’t see this moth on your site. This photo is NOT colour-retouched – she really IS this colour! I’ve had lots of other “hummingbird sphinxes”, but this one is quite a bit smaller and I didn’t see her fly, so I’m glad she has that “ruffle” where the hind wings peek out or I’d not have known how to start searching. Although the “probable” egg host is evening primrose, those aren’t currently in bloom around my property (01aug05), so I hope she isn’t in a hurry to lay eggs – my potted tomato plant is full of “spots”, however, so maybe she is the culprit? There are lots of ripe/rotting prickly pear fruits, so I wonder if she’s feeding on those…. Thank you SO much for your generous sharing of time and talent to create your website for the rest of us! As many others have written, I only wish I’d known of your site years ago – would have saved me a lot of searching on many, many insects! I’m now off to see if I can put “names to faces” for many other photos I’ve currently got filed under “Mystery Insects”!
elo
Green Valley , AZ (between Tucson and Mexico )
Hi elo,
So sorry about the delay in responding to your lovely photo. Our mom arrived the day your letter did and it somehow got lost in the shuffle for a week. Your photo of the Vega Sphinx, Proserpinus vega, is much more beautiful than the mounted one in the link you provided, and we are proud to post it.
Ed. Note: (11/21/2005) We just got the following correction from Jim Tuttle.
I enjoy scrolling through your website periodically, and from a practical point of view I am always looking for interesting records, food plants, and range extensions for the Sphingidae, although I always take notes of the Saturniidae too. Good job, it is a useful tool for the nature lover or the frantic gardener. I casually noted two id’s that need correcting. Vega Sphinx from Green Valley 8/2/2005 is actually Proserpinus terlooii. Keep up the good work!!
Regards,
Jim Tuttle
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Posted 02 August 2005
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a cottonwood sphinx moth?
Greetings,
When coming back from lunch this afternoon, I happened to notice this moth on the wall just outside the building where I work in Northwest New Mexico . Is this a cottonwood sphinx? That’s what the local biologist said it was, but I cannot find any information on a “cottonwood” sphinx. The closest thing I found on the internet was the “big poplar” or the “modest” sphinx. Is the moth I found one of these? Thanks in advance, what a great site.
Nicole
Hi Nicole,
Some writers think that Pachysphinx modesta is a subspecies of Pachysphinx occidentalis, your Big Poplar Sphinx. Both species sometimes, depending upon the author, are called the Big Poplar Sphinx. Yours is the Western species. You can find it on this site.
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Posted 28 July 2005
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nessus sphinx range
Hello! I was outside tonight in my backyard, and my mom and I saw this crazy bug! At first we thought it was a hummingbird because we had never seen anything like it, but then we started taking pictures of it and saw that it wasn’t. I looked at your site and saw that it is a nessus sphinx, and I was wondering if they usually live down here. I saw the one sent in from outside Houston, TX, and I live outside of Houston too. Are they common down here?
Thanks!
Shelby
Hi Shelby,
The Nessus Sphinx, Amphion floridensis, ranges throughout the Eastern U.S. west to Texas and Colorado. For a detailed map of its range, check out this USGS site.
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Posted 26 July 2005
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What’s this moth
What a great site, thanks for being there. I live in N.W.corner of CT. and we are in the middle of the woods. This has been an exceptional year for bugs and I have been taking lots of pictures. Would you be able to help identify this moth?
Thanks in advance,
Lori Welles
The Ballyhack
Hi Lori,
It sure is a bumper crop year for insects. We are working overtime and are still way behind. This is a Big Poplar Sphinx, Pachysphinx modesta. It has one of the greatest wingspans of North American Hawkmoths.
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Posted 26 July 2005
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Hummingbird clearwing moth?
Based upon your website — this looks like a hummingbird moth — also spotted in Northern NJ.
Open & Jim Banks
Hi Open and Jim,
You are absolutely correct. We have decided to remove the Dobsonfly from the top of our webpage and put your image since we are getting so much mail wanting this rapid flying beauty’s name. Very few photos actually show detail in the wings. Good job.
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Posted 24 July 2005
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a couple of photos and a moth ID
Hello
I wanted to let you know I love the site, and have used it for many identification forays since we moved out to the country here in south central Kansas. I also wanted send you to the url for three of my recent photos. (they are larger than I like to send through E-mail) One is of a mating pair of robber flies, it was interesting to watch as the male will vibrate his wings while wiggling the females head with his front legs. One is a photo of a green moth I found on the front deck this last night and I would appreciate any help with the ID you could give me. The last if of a green grasshopper. I do not know the species, but considering the number of them again this year, the chickens will be getting quite fat.
Thanks again,
William Tong
Hi William,
Thank you so much for the great letter and photos. We are also very happy that you have used the site in the past. Quite frankly, we are getting a little tired of responding to desperate housewives with pantry beetles. Your green moth is a Virginia Creeper Sphinx, Darapsa myron. If you go to this USGS site, you might find it is not yet reported in your county. Perhaps you could report the siting. We are thrilled to have your Mating Robber Fly image for our brand new Love Among the Bugs page. Your grasshopper is immature and we do not recognize it.
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Posted 23 July 2005
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What is it?
This was on a chrome bumper, or I wouldn’t have seen it. On a tree it wouldn’t get a second look. Any idea?
Thanks,
Tom Cassidy
Benton Harbor, MI
Hi Tom,
This is a Pandora Sphinx, Eumorpha pandorus, formerly the genus Pholus, and sometimes called the Satellite Sphinx. It is a beautiful olive green and pink moth that rarely flies after dark, preferring dusk to feed on flowers. The larvae feed on Virginia Creeper and grape and adults fly from June to August in the north and longer in the south.
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Posted 19 July 2005
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Moth identification
I captured this moth on film on the phlox on our deck. Is this a Hummingbird Hawk Moth?
Thanks
Danny
Hi Danny,
Yes, this is one of the Hummingbird Clearwing Moths.
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Posted 19 July 2005
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Big Poplar Sphinx
July 18, 2005
I came into work this morning and from the road, I could see this moth on the side of the building. I went in for a closer look and was a little freaked out because I had never seen a moth of this size, at least not in Uncasville, Connecticut. Anyhow, I grabbed my camera, snapped a few photos, and proceeded to your website where I found out exactly just what kind of moth this was. Thanks for a great site! Enjoy the photos!
Brianne Messer
Montville Youth Service Bureau
Uncasville, CT
Hi Brianne,
We are so happy with your photo and also that you actually used our site to research and not just ask a question.
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Posted 18 July 2005
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unknown moth
This moth was on the side of my sister’s house about 30 miles north of Bangor , Maine . The pictures were taken on 7 July 2005 . I have tried and several are close but I’m not sure about a match.
Thank you,
John
Hi John,
This is a Blinded Sphinx, Paonias excaecatus.
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Posted 18 July 2005
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