Banded Sphinx - Hodges#7865 (Eumorpha fasciata)? - Eumorpha fasciatus

Sphinx Moth Eumorpha fasciata

This looks just like the caterpillar that eats the cataba (sic) tree leaves. They burrow into the ground later to emerge as the Sphnix Moth. We use to grow the trees just to get the caterpillar for fish bait then off to the river for some great fishing. BTW there were 1000's of caterpillars on the tree so the 50 -60 used as fish bait for the family was no big deal... :)

… frankdmayo, 5 July, 2013 - 12:52am

Looks right

- it's very like this one -

… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 5 December, 2007 - 6:03pm

Definitely a banded sphinx

The correct spelling of the species is Eumorpha fasciatus.

… Ryan St Laurent, 5 December, 2007 - 7:33pm

Thanks for the correction

- I checked All-Leps, which we use as our reference for names, and indeed they have E. fasciatus as the correct spelling. I switched the info page around so fasciata is now listed as the synonym, not fasciatus.

"Mothguy", please fill out your bio page and tell us a little more about your background. It seems to me you know your moths, but it is not unusual on this site for anonymous users to speak with great authority and yet be totally wrong in their comments, so it really helps all our users to know whom the comments are coming from.

… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 6 December, 2007 - 1:22pm

I'll add some more info. I'm not speaking with "great authority" I'm just helping people with what I know. I'm not an "expert," just a great enthusiast on Saturniidae and Sphingidae. And I hope none of my comments have been totally wrong as of yet.

… Ryan St Laurent, 6 December, 2007 - 4:42pm

Quite the opposite.

My comments are certainly not meant to apply to you specifically, but they do apply to some anonymous users and that's why anonymity is a problem - if there's no way to tell whether a comment comes from an expert in the field, an experienced amateur, or someone making wild guesses based perhaps on a children's bug encyclopedia. Not only contributors but editors need to know how confident we should be about IDs made here, so that images can be located correctly in the guide. Thanks!

… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 6 December, 2007 - 5:34pm

I see

Hope I can be as much as a help to the site as I possibly can. :)

… Ryan St Laurent, 6 December, 2007 - 5:48pm

Thanks for the help,

Hannah and moth guy. Maybe we can have an editor change the guide page; it is spelled the same as mine. Thanks again!

… Graham Montgomery, 5 December, 2007 - 7:59pm