Discover Top Posts Tagged with #sphingidae

MYSTERY CATERPILLAR OF THE AMAZON!

family Sphingidae, Manu Biological Station, Peru

Apparently, for years, the identity of this caterpillar has been a mystery. We may be very close to solving the mystery!

People have seen this large gorgeous caterpillar for ages, but have never been able to figure out what it grows/metamorphoses into... what species is it?

Entomologist Gwen Erdosh (Gwentomologist), currently the Volunteer Coordinator at the Manu Biological Station in Madre de Dios, Peru, has collected one, determined its host plant, and got it to pupate!

Luckily, I got to meet the larva before it pupated, and snap a few photos.

Hopefully, we will know soon, and the mystery will be solved!

- Paxon

#entomology #caterpillar #moth #sphingidae #insect #animals #nature #science #the amazon #south america #me

Death’s head hawkmoth, Acherontia atropos, Sphingidae

Photographed by Matthieu Berroneau

Shared with permission; do not remove credit or re-post!

#animals #curators on tumblr #insects #bugs #moth #sphinx moth #sphingidae #deaths head moth #deaths head hawkmoth #Acherontia #acherontia atropos #one nice bug

A privet hawk-moth (Sphinx ligustri) rests on a tree in Hertfordshire, UK

by Will Atkins

#privet hawk moth #sphinx moths #butterflies and moths #sphinx ligustri #sphinx #Sphingidae #lepidoptera #insecta #arthropoda #wildlife: uk #wildlife: europe

i found lots of different Eumorpha fasciatus caterpillar color morphs today!

#sphinx moth #sphingidae #lepidoptera #eumorpha #insecta #hexapoda #animalia #my pics

not the kind of thing i was expecting to find on my "it's 7pm, i think i can go outside without the sun cooking me to death" walk, this sleepy striped hawkmoth (Hyles livornica) was not budging no matter how close i got. unfortunately neither was the gorse, so there was still a barrier of sorts between us