Virginia creeper sphinx
The Virginia creeper sphinx is a large hawk moth with green to brown striped front wings and orange back wings. Its body is long and pointed. Its caterpillar is a hornworm with a big blue horn at its back end.
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Fun facts
There can be five or more families a year, and a caterpillar can grow up in only three weeks.
The caterpillars eat at night and hide on the middle vein of a leaf in the daytime.
A female lays up to 150 small eggs. They start green and turn yellow within two days.
Fully grown caterpillars can chew right through a sleeve.
It is most active between sunset and midnight and comes to lights.
Most asked questions about Virginia creeper sphinx
?Is the hornworm's horn dangerous?
No. The horn is soft and cannot sting.
?What does the Virginia creeper sphinx caterpillar eat?
Leaves of Virginia creeper, grape vines and viburnum.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Darapsa myron
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Sphingidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Sphingidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Green grapevine sphinx
Where the facts come from
- Darapsa myron (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 Mike Boone. CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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