Erinnyis lassauxii
Erinnyis lassauxii, or Lassaux's sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae.
| Lassaux's sphinx | |
|---|---|
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| Male dorsal | |
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| Male ventral | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Sphingidae |
| Genus: | Erinnyis |
| Species: | E. lassauxii |
| Binomial name | |
| Erinnyis lassauxii | |
| Synonyms | |
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Description
The species was first described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1859. It lives from northern Argentina, through Central America, and into the lower United States (Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona).
The wingspan is 92–105 mm. The upperside of the forewing is dark brown with gray streaks along the inner margin and a gray patch at the tip of the wing. The upperside of the hindwing is dark brown with varying amounts of dark orange at the base.[2]
Female dorsal
Female ventral
Biology
Adults are on wing year round in the tropics and have been recorded from July to October in Arizona, in December in Texas and in September in southern Florida. Adults feed on the nectar of flowers, including Saponaria officinalis and Cynanchum racemosum.
The caterpillars of this species feed on papaya (Carica papaya), cassava (Manihot esculenta) in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), and several plants in the milkweed family (Asclepiadaceae).
References
- "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-11-09. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
- "Erinnyis lassauxii (Boisduval, 1859)". Silkmoths. Archived from the original on 2015-04-28. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
External links
- Lotts, Kelly & Naberhaus, Thomas (2017). "Lassaux's sphinx Erinnyis lassauxii (Boisduval, 1859)". Butterflies and Moths of North America. Retrieved November 19, 2018.