One-eyed sphinx
The one-eyed sphinx is a big moth with a surprise on each back wing: a blue eyespot with a black middle. When it shows its back wings, it looks like a pair of eyes staring at you. It flies at night.
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Fun facts
The adult moth never eats. It lives on the energy it stored as a caterpillar.
It was named after a French scientist called Alexandre de Cérisy.
It has only one family a year, and you can find the moths through much of the summer.
It is attracted to lights at night.
Most asked questions about One-eyed sphinx
?What does the one-eyed sphinx eat?
The moth does not eat at all. Its caterpillar eats willow, poplar and fruit tree leaves.
?Why is it called one-eyed?
Each back wing has one blue eyespot with a black centre.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Smerinthus cerisyi
- Named by
- Kirby, 1837
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Sphingidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Sphingidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Cerisy's sphinx
Where the facts come from
- Smerinthus cerisyi (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.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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