Twin-spotted sphinx

Description

Smerinthus jamaicensis, the twin-spotted sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Dru Drury in 1773. It is widely distributed across North America. It has been taken as far north as the Yukon. It has a wingspan of 1+3⁄4-3+1⁄4 inches (4.5-8.3 cm), with the outer margins of the forewings unevenly scalloped, but with the coastal margin of the hindwings being almost straight. Males have gray with black and white markings on their forewings, while females are yellowish brown with dark brown and white markings. Both sexes have red hindwings with a pale yellow border. Sometimes a blue patch may appear as a single eyespot or it may be divided by black bands, creating two or three eyespots. Adult moths are nocturnal, but seem to prefer the earlier part hours of the night. The larvae feed on apple (Malus sylvestris), Prunus species (such as plums and peach), ash (Fraxinus), elm (Ulmus), poplar (Populus), birch (Betula), and willow (Salix). Smerinthus is a Holarctic genus of hawkmoths in the family Sphingidae. It was described by Pierre André Latreille in 1802. Adults have conspicuous eyespots on the hindwings. The name Smerinthus is apparently derived from the Greek feminine noun 'Merinthos', but has been Latinised with the masculine -us ending and is thus, according to the ICZN article 30.1.3, masculine. As the ICZN rules that species names that are adjectives should agree in gender with the genus name, the common use of Smerinthus ocellata for the widespread European species Smerinthus ocellatus is incorrect.