Small Eyed Sphinx

Subject:  Moth??
Geographic location of the bug:  Saranac Michigan
Date: 08/02/2018
Time: 10:53 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Can you tell me what this is?
How you want your letter signed:  Whitney

Small Eyed Sphinx

Dear Whitney,
Your moth is a Small Eyed Sphinx, and according to Sphingidae of the Americas it:  “ranges from south eastern Canada to Florida westward almost to the Pacific Coast.”  The small eyes referred to in the name correspond to eyespots on the underwings that can startle a predator like a bird into thinking it has startled a large predator when the moth reveals the “eyes.”

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