The Tetrio sphinx is a moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 in the family Sphingidae

Sphingidae

Sphingidae is a family of moths , commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths and hornworms, that includes about 1,200 species . It is best represented in the tropics but there are species in every region . They are moderate to large in size and are distinguished among moths for their rapid,...

. It ranges from Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 to the southern United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. This moth has been recorded as far north as Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

 and Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, but in the United States it can only breed in Florida and sometimes Texas.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 is 127-140 mm. Males are darker than females, especially in the postmedian area of the forewing upperside.

Adults fly all year round in the tropics. There are several generations with adults on wing from March to September in Florida. A population is established on the island of Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 in the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

, and this species is very common on every island in the Caribbean Sea

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....

. Larvae can be found during most of the year but cannot be collected in the winter months because the main host plants (Plumeria

Plumeria

Plumeria is a genus of flowering plants of the family that includes Dogbane: the Apocynaceae. It contains 7-8 species of mainly deciduous shrubs and small trees...

species) are xerophyte

Xerophyte

A xerophyte or xerophytic organism is a plant which has adapted to survive in an environment that lacks water, such as a desert. Xerophytic plants may have adapted shapes and forms or internal functions that reduce their water loss or store water during long periods of dryness...

s and lose their leaves during the dry season.

The larvae feed on various plants, including Allamanda cathartica

Allamanda cathartica

Allamanda cathartica is an ornamental plant of Allamanda genus in the Apocynaceae family, which is native from Brazil. This plant is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius....

, Plumieria rubra, Plumeria cujete and Himatanthus species. In all known populations in the United States, larvae feed on ornamental Frangipani (Plumeria rubra

Plumeria rubra

Plumeria rubra is a deciduous plant species belonging to the genus Plumeria. Its common names are Red Frangipani, Common Frangipani, Temple Tree, or simply Plumeria...

) trees only.

The caterpillar is velvety black with yellow rings and an orange head; it is thought to mimic a coral snake. The larvae often bite into the stem just below the base of a leaf, causing the puncture to "bleed" a sticky white substance, thus not ingesting too much latex. However, latex in moderate amounts helps to make the caterpillar distasteful and toxic to birds or other predators.

External links

• Tetrio Sphinx Butterflies and Moths of North America
• tetrio sphinx on the UF
  University of Florida
  The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
  
   / IFAS
  Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
  The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
  
  Featured Creatures Web site