In my sister’s garden
in Australia was a hawk moth larvae (a hawk moth caterpillar). The Sphingidae are a family of moths known
as hawk moths, sphinx moths, and hornworms.
The photographed
species is the vine hawk moth larva (Hippotion
celerio).
Female adult hawk
moths lay translucent, greenish, flattened, smooth eggs, on plants, which hatch
into caterpillars after 3-21 days.
Sphingid caterpillars
(larvae) are medium to large in size, with stout bodies. Their eyes look like
kiwi fruit – green with black circles. They have five pairs of prolegs.
Usually, their bodies lack hair, but most species have a "horn" at
the posterior end. Many sphingid caterpillars have white spots on a black or
yellow background along the length of their body.
When resting, the
larva usually holds its legs off the surface and tucks its head underneath
(into a praying position), which resembling the Egyptian Sphinx, giving it its
name of 'sphinx moth'.
Larvae burrow into
soil to pupate, where they remain for 2–3 weeks before they emerge as adult
hawk moths. Sphingids are fast flying moths. Some are capable of flying at over
12 miles per hour. Some hawk moths, such as the hummingbird hawk moth hover in midair while they feed on nectar from flowers, so
they are sometimes mistaken for hummingbirds. Sphingids
have been much studied for their flying ability, especially their ability to
move rapidly from side to side while hovering, called 'swing-hovering' or
'side-slipping'.
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| hummingbird hawk moth, Georgia |
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| hummingbird, Kenya |
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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