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Species Sphinx chersis - Great Ash Sphinx - Hodges#7802

Great Ash Sphinx - Hodges#7802 - Sphinx chersis Caterpillar ID? - Sphinx chersis Caterpillar ID? - Sphinx chersis Sphinx chersis Great Ash Sphinx - Sphinx chersis Great Ash Sphinx? - Sphinx chersis Caterpillar - Manduca species? - Sphinx chersis Sphinx moth - Sphinx chersis
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
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 Sphinginae
Tribe Sphingini
Genus Sphinx
Species chersis (Great Ash Sphinx - Hodges#7802)
Hodges Number
7802
Other Common Names
Chersis Sphinx (1)
Pennant Marked Sphinx (2)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Sphinx chersis (Hübner, 1823)
Lethia chersis Hübner, 1823
Numbers
Sixteen species of the genus Sphinx are listed for America north of Mexico. (3), (4)
Size
Wingspan 9-13 cm . (5)
Forewing length 5.0-5.7 cm. (6)
Larva to 10 cm.
Identification
Adult - forewing uniformly ash gray; subterminal line incomplete, with pale gray outer edging; series of 4 black dashes - outermost dash reaches apex; hindwing black with diffuse pale gray bands. (5)
Larva - greenish or pinkish with seven long diagonal lines sometimes edged with pink. Spiracles elongate, black ringed with white. Horn blue or pink. (7)
Range
Across southern Canada and all of United States, south into Mexico. Rare in the deep south and Gulf Coast states and probably absent from the driest areas of the Great Basin. (5), (8)
Habitat
Wide variety of woodlands and western scrublands.
Season
Double-brooded in the middle states, on the wing in the latter part of May, and again in August. (1)
Food
Larval hosts are Cherry, Ash, Privet, Lilac, and other allied plants, according to Holland. Powell & Opler sumise that lilac and privot were laboratory rearings and offer the wild hosts as ash (Fraxinus), plum (Prunus), quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides). (1), (6)
Life Cycle
Two generations per year in the south; one generation in the north. (5)
Print References
Covell Jr., C.V., 1984. Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America. p.34, pl.4(7) (5)
Hodges, R.W., 1971. The Moths of America North of Mexico. Fascicle 21. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation Inc., p.58; pl.3, figs. 9-10, 4.2. (9)
Holland, W.J., 1915. The Moth Book a guide to the moths of North America. Doubleday, Page & Company. p. 50. (1)
Hübner, J. 1806. Sammlung exotischer Schmetterlinge errichtet 2: plate
Mitchell, R.T, H.S. Zim & A. Durenceau 2001. Butterflies and Moths (A Golden Guide). St. Martin's Press. p.86 (2)
Powell, J.A. & P A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press. pl.39.8m, p.243 (6)
Tuttle, J.P. 2007. Hawk moths of North America, a natural history study of the Sphingidae of the United States and Canada. p.74, pl.7.4 (3)
Wagner, D.L. 2005. Caterpillars of Eastern North America. Princeton University Press. p.256 (7)
Works Cited
1.The Moth Book
W. J. Holland. 1922. Doubleday, Page & Company.
2.Butterflies and Moths (A Golden Guide from St. Martin's Press)
Robert T. Mitchell, Herbert S. Zim, Andre Durenceau. 2001. Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press.
3.The Hawk Moths of North America, A Natural History Study of the Sphingidae of the United States and Canada.
James P Tuttle. 2007. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation Inc.
4.North American Moth Photographers Group
5.Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America
Charles V. Covell, Jr. 2005.
6.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
7.Caterpillars of Eastern North America
David L. Wagner. 2005. Princeton University Press.
8.Leaf-footed bug (Leptoglossus phyllopus) nymph?
9.The Moths of America North of Mexico Fascicle 21 Sphingidae
Ronald W. Hodges. 1971. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation.
10.Pacific Northwest Moths
11.BOLD: The Barcode of Life Data Systems