Sphinx ligustri
Appearance
Privet hawk moth | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Sphingidae |
Genus: | Sphinx |
Species: | S. ligustri
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Binomial name | |
Sphinx ligustri | |
Synonyms | |
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Sphinx ligustri, known as the privet hawk moth, is a species of moth found in most of the Palearctic ecozone.
Description
It has a 12 centimetres (4.7 in) wingspan (generally deflexed at rest), and is found in urban areas, forests and woodlands.
The male privet hawk-moth can make a hissing sound, if disturbed, by rubbing together a set of scales and spines at the end of its abdomen.
The larvae are usually found between July and August: and bury themselves in the earth when preparing to become a pupa. They then fly in the following June.[2]
Diet
As its name describes, the caterpillars feed on privets, as well as ash trees, lilacs, jasmine, and a number of other plants.
Gallery
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Male, dorsal side - MHNT
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Male, ventral side - MHNT
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Female, dorsal side - MHNT
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Female, ventral side - MHNT
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Caterpillar
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Pupating
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Pupa
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Pupa, caterpillar, and adult
References
- ^ "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-11-26. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Donovan, Edward (1792). The natural history of British insects: explaining them in their several states, with the periods of their transformations, their food, economy, &c. together with the history of such minute insects as require investigation by the microscope: the whole illustrated by coloured figures, designed and executed from living specimens. London. p. 79.
External links
- Media related to Sphinx ligustri at Wikimedia Commons
- Data related to Sphinx ligustri at Wikispecies
- Privet hawk moth on UKMoths
- Pittaway, Tony, Sphingidae of the Western Palaearctic, retrieved 2017-03-18
- The entry for this species on Australian Museum
- Lepiforum.de