Laothoe amurensis

Aspen hawk-moth
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Genus:	Laothoe
Species:	L. amurensis
Binomial name
Laothoe amurensis Staudinger, 1892
Synonyms
Sphinx tremulae Boisduval, 1828 Laothoe tremulae baltica Viidalepp, 1979 Smerinthus amurensis rosacea Staudinger, 1892

Laothoe amurensis, the aspen hawk-moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae.

Distribution

It is found in the northern part of the Palearctic ecozone. It flies in May and can be found only in far-eastern Europe, including parts of Poland, Finland, Ukraine and Belarus. It is found East to Japan as subspecies sinica. In spite of being very rare, it is not protected, e.g. in Poland. There are known few places where obtaining this moth by attracting to light is possible.

Description

The wingspan is 71–98 mm. Very similar to Laothoe populi, a common European moth found everywhere, but bigger and much darker.

Eggs laid singly or in small groups of two to four. Eggs are laid on the underside of leaves.

• 
  Male dorsal
• 
  Male ventral

Biology

The larvae feed singly on Populus tremula and willow. They are green with seven pale stripes, and look like L. populi caterpillars, but, opposite to it, have two or three little "horns" above their head. It is difficult to distinguish.

This moth spends winter as chrysalid in the soil.

Subspecies

• Laothoe amurensis amurensis (from central Poland and southern Finland, east through Russia, southern Siberia and Yakutia to the Pacific coast, including Sakhalin Island. In the eastern Palaearctic, it occurs south as far as the Altai Mountains of Xinjiang, northern Mongolia, northern Heilongjiang, Primorskiy Kray and Hokkaido and Honshu in Japan)
• Laothoe amurensis sinica Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 (China and Korea)