saliceti, cerisyi, excaecatus?
Location: Tonasket, WA
July 23, 2011 12:03 pm
Researching this makes me appreciate what bug enthusiasts go thru. Really need to be detail oriented! I ruled out smerinthus saliceti because we seem to be too far north and s. cersyi because no center black eyespot and both of them have straight sides to the central brown patch on their heads instead of hourglass and the shape of the pattern of the forewing near the head is more convoluted. PHEW! So, I’m thinking Blinded Sphinx, Paonias Excaecatus, although??? And on the side view, are those long filaments coming out of the mouth?! Thanks so much.
Signature: Cathy
Hi Cathy,
We feel your anxiety over getting a proper identification when numerous different species seem to all look so similar. We agree with your final decision that this is a Blinded Sphinx. In our opinion, the best place to Identify Sphinx Moths is on Bill Oehlke’s Sphingidae of the Americas website. You can actually disaggregate the species that have been reported from Washington and that should make future identifications easier.