Page 435 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Sphingidae
DISTRIBUTION Africa, the Azores, Europe (except the far north), the Middle
East, and western Asia; rare summer migrant to Iceland and
northern Europe
HABITAT Cultivated areas and open scrub with solanaceous plants,
especially drier and sunnier locations
HOST PLANTS Numerous Solanaceae, Bignoniaceae, Verbenaceae,
and Oleaceae, and several species from other families
NOTE Horned caterpillar of a species steeped in myth and
superstition
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but common in Africa

ADULT WINGSPAN
3½–5 in (90–130 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
4⅝–5 in (120–130 mm)
ACHERONTIA ATROPOS
DEATH’S HEAD HAWKMOTH 433

(LINNAEUS, 1758)

Death’s Head Hawkmoth caterpillars hatch from green or
gray-blue eggs, laid singly beneath old leaves of the host plant.
Initially pale yellow with a disproportionately long horn, the
larva turns dark green as it feeds. In the fourth instar, its coloring
becomes more vivid, and, in the nal instar, the horn takes on a

downcurved shape. The mature caterpillar is large and lethargic
but, if threatened, will click its mandibles and even try to bite.
It can strip small plants bare and is an occasional local pest.

The caterpillars were once a common sight in the potato elds The Death’s Head Hawkmoth caterpillar is
of Europe, but the widespread use of insecticides has reduced green, brown, yellow, or pale creamy yellow.
All forms are smooth when fully grown, with
their numbers. seven oblique lateral stripes. These are purple,
edged with blue and yellow in the green and
yellow forms, but barely visible in the brown
Both larvae and the mahogany-brown pupae are cold sensitive, form. The head has black cheeks, and the
yellow anal horn is warty and downcurved,
and few survive the winter north of the Mediterranean. The adult with a re exed tip.
moth, which squeaks, is an annual migrant north into central and
northern Europe. In the past, it aroused superstitions due to the
skull-like marking on the thorax, and the moth featured on a
publicity poster for the thriller lm The Silence of the Lambs; the

live moths in the movie, however, were Acherontia styx, which
is very similar to A. atropos.

Actual size