Paonias excaecatus

Blinded sphinx
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Sphingidae
Genus: Paonias
Species: P. excaecatus
Binomial name
Paonias excaecatus
(J. E. Smith, 1797)[1]
Synonyms
  • Sphinx excaecata J.E. Smith, 1797
  • Paonias pavonina Geyer, 1837
  • Calasymbolus excaecata borealis Clark, 1929
  • Calasymbolus excaecata pecosensis Cockerell, 1905
Caterpillar

Paonias excaecatus (blinded sphinx) is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It is found in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and across the rest of Canada all the way to British Columbia. In the United States it ranges south to Florida in the east, and westward to eastern California and as far south as central Texas.

The wingspan is 60–85 mm. Adult moths are nocturnal; after a brief bout of activity after dusk, they seem to prefer the later hours of the night.[2]

The eggs are greenish-yellow and small. Hornworms hatch after about 8 days. Primary food sources for the larvae are deciduous trees such as willows, birch and cherries, as well as shrubberies. Like the rest of the Sphingidae family, they shallowly burrow into soil to pupate. Once they leave their pupa, the adults almost immediately mate. Adults do not feed.

References

  1. ↑ "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  2. ↑ Fullard, J. H. & N. Napoleone. (2001). Diel flight periodicity and the evolution of auditory defences in the Macrolepidoptera. Animal Behaviour 62(2): 349–68. doi:10.1006/anbe.2001.1753


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.