Page 441 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Sphingidae
DISTRIBUTION Temperate Europe across temperate west Asia and southern
Siberia to Russian Far East, Japan, and eastern and central China;
India (Sikkim, Assam), Nepal, Bhutan, and northern Myanmar;
also southern British Columbia (Canada) as an introduction

HABITAT Ditches and river margins on oodplains, damp forest clearings
and margins, even town wastelands, and damp meadows up to
4,920 ft (1,500 m) elevation in the Alps
HOST PLANTS Herbaceous Onagraceae, especially Epilobium spp., and
Rubiaceae, often Galium spp.
NOTE Alarming, snakelike caterpillar of attractive pink-and-khaki moth
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but common, especially in warm, damp
riverine areas

ADULT WINGSPAN
2⅜–3 in (60–75 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
DEILEPHILA ELPENOR 2¾–3⅛ in (70–80 mm)
LARGE ELEPHANT
HAWKMOTH 439

(LINNAEUS, 1758)

The Large Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar is initially pale
green. In between feeding, by day and night, the young larva
rests stretched out beneath a leaf, where it is extremely well

camou aged. Later, larger individuals (now mostly dark brown)

feed fully exposed at the top of a plant, preferring the owers
and seed heads to leaves. When not feeding, the caterpillar
often hides at the base of the plant, where its dark coloration is
of greater advantage. The larva can also swim if it drops from
emergent aquatic host plants into water below. It was once
an occasional pest of grapevines in southern Europe but is
rarely so today. The Large Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar is,
at rst, pale green and cylindrical. In the third
instar, the rst and second abdominal segments
A striking feature of the species is its defensive behavior. When enlarge and develop very realistic eyespots that
the caterpillar is alarmed, the head and three thoracic segments remain brightly colored until pupation. Most
larvae also change to the nal dark form, but
are withdrawn into the rst and second abdominal segments, some stay green or occasionally turn blue gray.

The horn is short, hooked, and has a white tip.
which expand greatly, enlarging startling eyespots. Even quite
large birds have been known to flee at this sight. There are
three other similar Palearctic species—Deilephila porcellus,
D. askoldensis, and D. rivularis. All these hawkmoth adults are
nonmigratory, nocturnal, and avid ower visitors.

Actual size