A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Hippotion scrofa
Not many Sphingidae live in the colder latitudes of Australia but this is one of them. Wingspan of about 70mm. Beautiful yet subtle tones of grey, olive, lilac on dorsal view. Very bright red in the centre of hind wings. Tight and tidy cream trim around the front areas. A very smooth and sleek moth.
Attracted to night lights at the local school. Resting on a darker part of the brick wall.
Hawk moth. Fairly omnivorous with the larvae feed on Epilobium, Coprosma repens, Ipomoea and Fuchsia. Apparently they really like the NZ species (introduced here) or Coprosma (Mirror leaf bush)
Family: Sphingidae
Genus: Hippotion
Species: H. scrofa
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au...
http://peonyden.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/...
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Hippotion%...
Spotted on Dec 2, 2013
Submitted on Dec 3, 2013
6 Comments
Yep.. thanks Martin... horsey piggy moth.
I was very pleased to find one anyway.
I think hippo is horse.
This might be a chubby one?
Nice spotting Mark. I've seen about two of them in my life...
Thanks Leuba and Luis. Yes the name is strange... Hippo (pig?) Scrofa (pig?) hmmm.... someone has some explaining to do.
Great series Mark!
Absolutely stunning moth- such neat lines ! lovely the shots Mark. Need to look-up origin of name.