Hawk Moth larvae

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'.

hummingbird hawk moth, Georgia

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).