Page 475 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Sphingidae
DISTRIBUTION Temperate Europe and northwest Africa to temperate western
Asia, central Asia, Siberia, Russian Far East, northern China,
and northern Japan
HABITAT Open scrub and woodland edges, including town suburbs
and river valleys, but only north-facing slopes of mountains
in the south
HOST PLANTS Mainly privet (Ligustrum spp.), ash (Fraxinus spp.), and lilac
(Syringa spp.); also many Spiraea spp. and Viburnum spp.
NOTE Striking caterpillar of a very widely distributed Old
World hawkmoth
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but common and widespread

ADULT WINGSPAN
3½–4⅝ in (90–120 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
3½–4 in (90–100 mm)
SPHINX LIGUSTRI
PRIVET HAWKMOTH 473

LINNAEUS, 1758

Privet Hawkmoth caterpillars hatch from up to 200 eggs laid
singly by the female hawkmoth on the underside of leaves.
The early instar larvae rest beneath the midrib of a leaf, but
when fully grown assume a typical upside-down, sphinxlike
pose, clinging to a petiole or stem by their rear legs, with the
thoracic segments hunched. Most larvae grasp stripped shoots
within 6½ ft (2 m) of the ground. Between four and seven weeks
after hatching, the caterpillar turns purplish brown dorsally
and moves to the ground to pupate in an earthern cell within
soft, loamy soil.

The pupae overwinter, and the adults eclose in June in northern
parts of their range but earlier in the south, with a second
generation in August. Adults are not very variable, although
there are pale forms and sometimes individuals without any
pink coloration. Several closely related species inhabit North
America and Japan, notably the Wild Cherry Sphinx (Sphinx
drupiferarum) and S. constricta. The species name, ligustri,
is derived from one of its main hosts, privet.

Actual size
The Privet Hawkmoth caterpillar is initially light
yellow but becomes luminescent green as it feeds
and develops its nal, oblique, white-and-purple
stripes in its third instar. Variation is not great,
but some larvae have darker than normal lateral
stripes, often complemented by a second, lower
purple one. Instead of one posterior, blackish horn,
some may have two or more horns in series, each
successively smaller. In a rare form, the primary
body color of green may be replaced by purple.