Northern pine sphinx
Lapara bombycoides
The northern pine sphinx is a hawk moth from North America. Hawk moths are strong, fast flyers with long narrow wings. Its caterpillars grow up eating pine needles.
Lives in
Canada and the northern United States, in pine forests
Wingspan
4.5 to 6 cm (1.8 to 2.4 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the needles of pine trees and larches.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🧱wings as wide as 2 toy building bricks⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 9.7 seconds
How big is Northern pine sphinx compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
Northern pine sphinx about 39 km/h (24 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Every northern pine sphinx looks a little different.
2
In Canada the moths fly from the middle of June to the middle of July.
3
It looks a lot like its cousin, the southern pine sphinx, but its front wings are darker.
you asked
Most asked questions about Northern pine sphinx
?What does the northern pine sphinx eat?
Its caterpillars eat pine and larch needles.
?How big is the northern pine sphinx?
Its wings measure about 45 to 60 millimetres from tip to tip.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Lapara bombycoides
- Named by
- Walker, 1856
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Sphingidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Sphingidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Lapara bombycoides (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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