Welcome to Catnapin's

Insect Gallery

Sphinx Moths

order Lepidoptera - family Sphingidae

1-2) This month the field was purple in Prairie Verbena and each had a Sphinx moth.

subfamily Macroglossinae, tribe Macroglossini

Whitelined Sphinx  Hyles lineata

Photo taken in Taylor County, May 2002

Moth: 2 7/16" - 3 9/16" wide

Caterpillar:  Yellow-orange heads; bodies lengthwise dark green and black stripes sometimes yellow stripes; 3 1/8" long;  Long orange spine on rear.  Good fish bate.

Pupa: live in soil

Cold moth.

subfamily Sphinginae, tribe Sphingini

Plebeian Sphinx Paratrea plebeja

Photo taken in Taylor County, April 2006

Moth:

Caterpillar: 

Pupa:

This poor moth was brought in by one of our cats.  Everybody had to look at it.  Once she got it back, she eat everything but one wing and a couple legs.

subfamily Sphinginae, tribe Sphingini

Great Ash Sphinx Sphinx chersis

Photo taken in Taylor County, June 2007

Moth:

Caterpillar: 

Pupa:

Other Species in My Area

Clavipes Sphinx Aellopos clavipes

2 - 2 1/2 inches.  Body is dark brown with a wide white band across the abdomen. Wings are dark brown. Forewing has a black cell spot and 3 white spots near the pale brown marginal area.

(Coleman)

Nessus Sphinx Amphion floridensis

1 7/16 - 2 3/16 inches.  Body is stout; abdomen has 2 bright yellow bands and a tuft at the end. Upperside of wings is dark red-brown. Hindwing has a red-orange median band and a yellow spot on the costal margin; in some moths the median band ranges from pale to almost absent.

(Taylor)

Azalea Sphinx Darapsa choerilus (D. pholus)

2 1/4 - 2 15/16 inches.  Forewing upperside is yellow brown to reddish brown with a purple tinge, with paler bands in the middle of the wing and along the outer margin. Hindwing upperside is orange with a faint pale band along the inner margin.

(Brown)

Vine Sphinx Eumorpha vitis

3 3/8 - 4 1/8 inches.  Upperside is dark pinkish brown. Forewing has sharp pinkish white bands and streaks. Hindwing has a pink patch along the inner margin and pale whitish brown along the outer margin.

(Brown)

Snowberry Clearwing Hemaris diffinis

1 1/4 - 2 inches.  Adults mimic bumblebees. Wings are transparent with dark brown to light brownish orange borders. Forewing cell lacks dark scales.

(Coleman)

Modest Sphinx Pachysphinx modesta

3 - 4 11/16 inches.   Upperside of forewing is gray with the basal third lighter; sometimes the outer third also is light, leaving just the median band dark. Upperside of hindwing is gray with a crimson patch and an inward-pointing blue-black triangle near the outer margin.

(Brown)

Twin-spotted Sphinx Smerinthus jamaicensis

1 3/4 - 3 1/4 inches.  Outer margin of forewing is unevenly scalloped; costal margin of hindwing is almost straight. Upperside of male forewing is gray with black and white markings; female is yellowish brown with dark brown and white markings. Hindwing of both sexes is mostly red with a pale yellow border; blue patch may appear as a single eyespot or be divided by black bands to create two or three spots.

(Brown)

Incense Cedar Sphinx Sphinx libocedrus

2 3/4 - 3 1/4 inches.  Forewing is pale blue-gray to dark gray with a black dash reaching the wing tip and a white stripe along the lower outer margin. Hindwing is black with 2 diffuse white bands.

(Brown)