![]() ![]() A study by National Geographic found that the epipharynx was originally built to suck up honey, but later evolved to produce sound. The chirp of the death's head hawkmoth takes approximately one-fifth of a second. The sound is produced by inhaling and expelling air, which vibrates the epipharynx like an accordion, often accompanied by flashing of the brightly colored abdomen in a further attempt to deter predators. All three species have the ability to emit a loud chirp if irritated. These moths have several unusual features. When mature, they burrow underground and excavate a chamber where they pupate. Larvae do not move much, and will click their mandibles or even bite if threatened. The larvae are stout, reaching 120–130 mm, with a prominent tail horn. None of the three species is restricted to a single family of host plant, but hosts are typically in the families Solanaceae, Verbenaceae, Oleaceae, Bignoniaceae and others. In the greater death's-head hawkmoth the host plant is usually the potato, but may also be tomato, woody nightshade, jasmine or common buckthorn. Development Įggs are laid singly under old leaves of a host plant and are green or greyish-blue. The pupa is stout and reddish-brown, and is formed 8 to 10 in (20 to 25 cm) under the ground in a chamber the size of a large hen's egg. The other two species of death's-head hawkmoth similarly have three larval color forms: typically, green, brown and yellow. It can attain a length of 5 to 6 in (13 to 15 cm). ![]() At the rear is a curved, thorn-like horn. The caterpillar of the African death's-head hawkmoth is also sturdy and somewhat variable in colour, being some shade of buff, green or brown, with seven diagonal blue lines. This illusion is also present in Agrius convolvuli (convolvulus hawk-moth) and five other species, with the study author suggesting that the function of the illusion of an eyed head is "almost certainly to deter, distract or otherwise deceive predators". Spots on its forewings can be seen as eyes, and various other markings and features can be interpreted as ears, muzzle and lips. Ī 2020 study describes how, when viewed upside-down, Acherontia atropos creates an illusion of a head with eyes: the mark on its thorax likened to a human skull is the "nose", with the skull's eye-sockets resembling nostrils. ![]() It is a striking insect, but is seldom seen because it flies late in the night. The most notable feature is a patch of short yellowish hairs on the thorax that gives the impression of depicting a human skull. The abdomen is a similar orangey-brown, with a broad, dark dorsal stripe. The forewings are a mottled dark brown and pale brown, and the hind wings are orangey-buff with two narrow dark bands parallel with the hind margin. The African death's-head hawkmoth ( Acherontia atropos) is the largest moth in the British Isles, with a wingspan of 5 in (13 cm) it is a powerful flier, having sometimes been found on ships far from land. They are large nocturnal moths with brown and yellow or orange coloring, and all three species are fairly similar in size, coloration and life cycle. These moths are easily distinguishable by the vaguely human skull-shaped pattern of markings on the thorax. The former species is found in Europe and throughout Africa, the latter two are Asian most uses of the common name refer to the European species. (Cephanodes is a frequent misspelling.) The genus was erected by Jacob Hübner in 1819.The name death's-head hawkmoth refers to any of three moth species of the genus Acherontia ( Acherontia atropos, Acherontia styx and Acherontia lachesis). Parasitoids such as Ooencyrtus papilionis and Blepharipa zebrine are found on larva.Ĭephonodes is a genus of moths in the family Sphingidae. ![]() Its larvae feed on Burchellia, Gardenia, Kraussia, Pavetta and Vangueria species. Larvae are sluggish but eat very greedily and continuously. In the dark-coloured form, head brown or pale orange and rest of body smoky black. In greenish form, body greenish with a white-bordered blue dorsal line and whitish sub-dorsal line ending in a yellow streak at base of horn. Larva have two colour forms, green and blackish. Nominate subspecies has bright reddish 3rd and 4th abdominal segments. Abdomen varies in colour from yellow to green. Its marginal borders are very narrow and black. It has transparent wings and a stout body like a bumble bee. A widely distributed moth, it is found in the Near East, Middle East, Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Southeast Asia and Australia. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1771. Cephonodes hylas, the coffee bee hawkmoth, pellucid hawk moth or coffee clearwing, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. ![]()
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