Pawpaw sphinx
The pawpaw sphinx is a hawk moth with brown, patterned wings that help it hide on tree bark. When it rests, its front wings do not overlap, so you can still see part of its body. It is named after the pawpaw tree that its caterpillars eat.
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Fun facts
It is the only species in its genus, Dolba. It has no close brothers or sisters.
It looks a lot like the rustic sphinx, but it is smaller and has no orange dots on its belly.
Its brown colours are camouflage, so birds have a hard time spotting it on a tree.
Most asked questions about Pawpaw sphinx
?Why is it called the pawpaw sphinx?
Because its caterpillars eat the leaves of the pawpaw tree.
?How big is the pawpaw sphinx?
Its wings measure about 5 to 7 centimetres from tip to tip.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dolba hyloeus
- Named by
- Drury, 1773
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Sphingidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Sphingidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Dolba (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 Futureman1199. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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