''Sphinx ligustri'', the privet hawk moth, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

found in most of the

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

. The species was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''.

Description

It has a wingspan (generally deflexed at rest), and is found in urban areas, forests and woodlands. The male privet hawk moth can make a hissing sound, if disturbed, by rubbing together a set of scales and spines at the end of its abdomen. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e are usually found between July and August: and bury themselves in the earth when preparing to become a

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

. They then fly in the following June.

Diet

As its name describes, the caterpillars feed on

privet A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs, sometimes forming small or medium-sized trees, native species, native to Europe, north Africa, Asia, many in ...

s, as well as

ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of subtropical species are evergree ...

lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering plant, flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and wid ...

jasmine Jasmine ( taxonomic name: ''Jasminum''; , ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae). It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are widely cultiva ...

, and a number of other plants.

Gallery

Sphinx ligustri MHNT dos femelle.jpg, Female, dorsal side Sphinx ligustri MHNT ventre femelle.jpg, Female, ventral side Sphinx ligustri MHNT dos male.jpg, Male, dorsal side Sphinx ligustri MHNT ventre male.jpg, Male, ventral side File:Sphinx ligustri01.jpg, Caterpillar File:Sphinx ligustri pupating1.jpg, Pupating File:Sphinx ligustri pupating3.jpg, Pupa File:Sphinx ligustri from plate 284 of naturalhistoryof899dono.jpg, Pupa, caterpillar, and adult

References

External links

* *
"69.006 BF1976 Privet Hawk-moth ''Sphinx ligustri'' Linnaeus, 1758"
''UKMoths''. Retrieved December 13, 2018. *
"06832 ''Sphinx ligustri'' Linnaeus, 1758 - Ligusterschwärmer"
''Lepiforum e.V.'' Retrieved December 13, 2018. Sphinx (genus) Moths described in 1758 Moths of Australia Moths of Europe Moths of Japan Moths of Asia Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Sphinginae-stub