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Photo#605781
Sphinx sp - Sphinx gordius

Sphinx sp - Sphinx gordius
Dundurn Sand Hills, Saskatchewan, Canada
August 16, 2011
I think this may be Sphinx gordius but that's just a guess. It was crawling across the grass in native prairie (sand hills) so no host plant identified. Looks like it was parasitized so may not have as bright colours as normal. Sphinx larvae look so much alike to me - is there a key for identifying Sphinx larvae from each other?

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Sphinx
This could be either Sphinx gordius or the very similar S. poecila. Due to this being a northerly record, I would tend to think that this is more likely S. poecila, but based on Tuttle's description of differentiating the two species, S. gordius has the purplish/red stripes bordering the white that this individual displays, S. poecila on the other hand has black bordering the white stripes.

I have, however, seen both colored stripes attributed to both species. I will call this one S. gordius based on Tuttle's description, the range map does show both species in southern Saskatchewan as well.