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

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

found in most of the

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The ...

. The species was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

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 (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

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

pupa A pupa (; : 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 life cycle, the stages th ...

. They then fly in the following June.

Diet

As both its common name and specific name - ''ligustri'' being derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''ligustrum'', 'privet' - describes, the caterpillars feed on privets, as well as

ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae, and comprises 45–65 species of usually medium-to-large trees, most of which are deciduous trees, although some subtropical species are evergr ...

lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of 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 widely and commonly ...

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

, 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