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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Silkworm, Sphinx, and Royal Moths (Bombycoidea) » Sphinx Moths (Sphingidae) » Macroglossinae » Macroglossini » Xylophanes » Tersa Sphinx - Hodges#7890 (Xylophanes tersa)
Photo#150159
Sphinx - Xylophanes tersa
Copyright © 2007 Gw Ponder

Sphinx - Xylophanes tersa
Birmingham, Alabama, USA
October 2, 2007
Size: Approximately 1.4 inch
I hard the hardest time finding this caterpillar and ended up pulling him off his perch. I quickly took this shot and returned to where I found it. The flowers they are eating are Pantas.

Images of this individual: tag all
Sphinx - Xylophanes tersa Sphinx - Xylophanes tersa Sphinx - Xylophanes tersa Sphinx - Xylophanes tersa
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Contributed by Coppertop on 4 October, 2007 - 3:50pm
Last updated 1 July, 2012 - 8:39pm

Moved
Moved from Pluto Sphinx.
… john and jane balaban, 1 July, 2012 - 8:40pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Tersa Sphinx.
… john and jane balaban, 1 July, 2012 - 8:38pm login or register to post comments

Aha!
Finally, I see little eyespots along the stripe. That plus Pentas (where I've often found them) makes me revert to my original guess of Xylophanes tersa for this one (see image 1, and comments on other images). That was fun!

Thanks for your perseverance in adding more angles until the mystery was solved (I believe)!

I'm moving all these to the guide for X. tersa. If anyone disagrees with this ID, I'm sure we'll hear from them eventually. : )
… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 5 October, 2007 - 10:06am login or register to post comments

 
Not a problem...
I'm glad to be able to contribute to the site. It's truly a wealth of information.

Am I to understand correctly that this guy will pupate in the soil?
… Coppertop, 5 October, 2007 - 11:23am login or register to post comments

 
Yes, that's true for most sphinx moths
although I've heard of them pupating in the corner of a garage when no soil was accessible. Usually they dig down a few inches into loose soil or leaf litter.
… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 5 October, 2007 - 11:57am login or register to post comments

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