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Species Callionima parce - Parce Sphinx - Hodges#7844

Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Bombycoidea (Silkworm, Sphinx, and Royal Moths)
Family Sphingidae (Sphinx Moths)
Subfamily Macroglossinae
Tribe Dilophonotini
Genus Callionima
Species parce (Parce Sphinx - Hodges#7844)
Hodges Number
7844
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
First described in 1775 by Johan Christian Fabricius as Sphinx parce
Callionima parce
Explanation of Names
CAUTION: Callionima parce of authors; (not Fabricius, 1775) is listed as synonym of Callionima falcifera (Gehlen, 1943) by St Laurent (in Pohl & Nanz (eds.) 2023)(1) with true parce treated as extralimital north of Mexico.
Numbers
one of 2 species in this genus in North America listed at All-Leps
the only Callionima species on the Lepidoptera of Florida Checklist
Size
wingspan 67-80 mm
Identification
Adult: forewing orangish-brown with paler patches along costa, along inner margin, and at apex; median area with large silvery discal spot having an irregular outline; hindwing reddish-orange with blackish patch at outer margin near anal angle

It seems that a reliable characteristic is examining the apical area of the forewing. In Callionima falcifera, it seems that the area directly between the apical line and outer margin is the same color as the ground color of the wing, and not lighter. In Callionima parce, the area between the apical line and outer margin is lighter. (CATE)
Range
Brazil north through Central America and Mexico to southern Florida, Texas, and Arizona (the distribution map here shows a record in California but the species is not on the California Moths List at U. of California)
C. parce is the only Callionima species on the Lepidoptera of Florida Checklist
Habitat
woodlands
in Venezuela, C. parce flies only before midnight, and C. falcifera flies only after midnight
Season
adults fly all year in the tropics; individual migrants occasionally stray north to United States April-September
Food
larvae are thought to feed on plants in the dogbane family (Apocynaceae)
Remarks
Some sources describe Callionima parce as browner and with less falcate wings than C. falcifera (which is described as redder and with more falcate wings). Other sources claim that the two species cannot be distinguished without examining genitalia. Below are some links to photos in addition to the ones listed under Internet References.
images labeled C. parce: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
images labeled C. falcifera: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Internet References
species account with photos and discussion of identification difficulties (Bill Oehlke, silkmoths.bizland.com)
pinned adult image by Paul Opler, plus description, flight season, foodplants, US distribution map (butterfliesandmoths.org)
19 pinned adult images and collection site map (All-Leps)
pinned adult image (Bruce Walsh, Moths of Southeastern Arizona)
presence in Florida; list (John Heppner, Florida State Collection of Arthropods)
Systema Entomologiae, p. 543    Fabricius' original description of the species (in Latin)
Works Cited
1.Annotated Taxonomic Checklist of the Lepidoptera of North America, North of Mexico
Pohl, G. R. and S. R. Nanz (eds.). 2023. Wedge Entomological Research Foundation.