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Photo#1195525
Mystery Sphingidae found in backyard. - Cocytius antaeus

Mystery Sphingidae found in backyard. - Cocytius antaeus
Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles County, California, USA
February 29, 2016
Size: 3.5 in head to wingtip
I work at a local middle school, and a secretary found this in her backyard and brought it to me. I'd like to know what it is and what I can feed it (if anything). Thanks.

Images of this individual: tag all
Mystery Sphingidae found in backyard. - Cocytius antaeus Mystery Sphingidae found in backyard. - Cocytius antaeus Mystery Sphingidae found in backyard. - Cocytius antaeus

Thanks
Thank you everyone for the quick ID. It's very much appreciated. For the record, it was actually found in Baldwin Hills, not Santa Monica, and I've updated that in the image info. Here's what the professor who found it said about it:
"I live in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles. It was in my front courtyard Saturday and wouldn't leave. Saturday night it was on my gate and all day Sunday. I tried to rattle it from the gate but it wouldn't budge. I put it in the jar Sunday afternoon and you know the rest. "

Moved
-duplicate-

Moved
Moved from Giant Sphinx.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Cocytius antaeus
Looks like Cocytius antaeus, could be a CA state record, probably an odd stray if not actually introduced...

 
Hah, excellent! I hadn't eve
Hah, excellent! I hadn't even suspected that. Thanks for the correct ID!

 
Cocytius
Jean Haxaire just confirmed the ID for me, it does seem to be a CA record but I don't have all of my usual sources at hand. Nice find!

 
Certainly no specimens in the
Certainly no specimens in the CALMOTH database (https://essigdb.berkeley.edu/calmoth.html) - is there another more reliable/accurate database around? No citations in the literature either (via google scholar, so of course some things are probably missing). Nothing from MPG (though one photo from Arizona) or BAMONA (though one photo of C. duponchel in CA and one photo of C. antaeus from AZ as well), and I don't have either of the two relevant sphingid books at hand here either!

 
Not sure
Those would be the main databases I would check.

 
For the OP, given this may be
For the OP, given this may be a state record - is there someone she should send the moth to after it expires so it may be kept as a specimen?

 
She could send it to me
I would happily relax, spread, and curate it in the Cornell University Insect Collection. I would need accurate data as well.

It looks like Manduca to me,
It looks like Manduca to me, maybe Manduca rustica given the small number of yellow spots on the abdomen (though the wings and thorax are pretty dull for rustica)?

She'll be okay without eating (she won't starve to death), but she can feed off of flowers like datura or petunia or tobacco, especially if the plant smells strongly and is pale in color. She looks pretty tattered so she may be near the end of her adult life anyhow; the adults don't usually live very long (unfed adults in the lab usually live a week after emerging from the pupa, maybe 2 weeks maximum).

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