Elephant Hawk Moth

[Rob Knell]

gmorgan at cytanet.com.cy (Gareth Morgan) wrote:

>My son has 'rescued' what I think is an elephant Hawk Moth larva. 
>Unfortunately it was wandering around the beach (in Cyprus) so is probably 
>infected with parasites. Does anyone know what plant it feeds off?  I'd like 
>to give it an even chance if possible.

>Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have already scoured the Internet 
>and found lots of info on Sphingidae but not on the larva food plants.

IIRC he food plant is rosebay willowherb. If it was wandering around
the beach it may just have been looking for a nice spot to pupate.
Let's hope you get an adult: the colours are really tasteless.


Rob Knell
Dept. Zoology, University of the Witwatersrand, Jo'burg.