Ipomoea alba, Carolina Sphinx Moths,
& Other Big Insects In My Yard

    I grow Ipomoea alba, also known as Moon Flowers.  These are related to morning glories, but bloom at night rather than in the morning.  I train them to climb up onto my deck out back.  The start blooming as the sun sets.  The blooms are white and quite large.  Here is a photo of some of them blooming, with my foot included to give an idea of their size.

   

        A UF Entomology page notes that there are two closely related species, the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) and the tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata).  Both are sometimes called the Carolina sphinx moth.  These moths are often mistaken for hummingbirds.  They are attracted to moon flowers. Here is a photo of a sphinx moth visiting some of my moon flowers on the fence around my deck and pool.

    Here is a sphinx moth feeding on one of the moon flowers that grow up on my deck.  The UF webpage says "the sides of the abdomen usually are marked with six orange-yellow spots in tobacco hornworm and five spots in tomato hornworm."  That pictured below has six spots on each side (the most caudal one is difficult to see).

 

    This sphinx so enjoyed the moon nectar that it was not deterred by my sticking my finger in and touching it.

   

    Look at the length of the tube through which the moth's proboscis must travel to reach the nectar:

 

    Late one afternoon I was sitting on the deck watching a sphinx moth visiting the moon flowers which had just started opening.  When I saw the moth crawl right into one, I knew I could capture it.  I just walked up and closed the flower and took the moth indoors for some photos, after sacrificing it.  Here is a close up of the moth, with most of its proboscis cropped out.  This one appears to be of the tomato variety.   I have often captured the caterpillar, which is a serious pest for the tomato or tobacco farmer.   They also feed on other members of the nightshade family, including potatoes.

    Here is a photo of hornworms that were feeding on my tomato plants.  Notice that they are covered with the eggs of parasitic wasps.  The UF webpage says "The tobacco hornworm develops seven straight oblique whitish lines laterally. The white lines are edged with black on the upper borders, and the "horn" is usually red in color. The tomato hornworm is superficially similar, but instead of the seven oblique lateral bands it bears eight whitish or yellowish "V"-shaped marks laterally, and pointing anteriorly. The "V"-shaped marks are not edged in black. Also, in tomato hornworm the "horn" tends to be black in color."  Given this description, it appears that those below are tobacco hornworms.  Check out the photos of the two species at the UF webpage.

    And here is a picture of a sphinx moth with the proboscis included.  The proboscis is not quite fully extended, but you can see 7 cm of its length.  The body of this moth is 5 cm long.

 

Check out the proboscis on this moth in flight -- photo by daughter Athena Carey.  Oops, this link is now stale.

 

    The pink-spotted hawkmoth, Agrius cingulata, also known as the sweet potato hornworm, also visits my moon flowers.  The larvae are known to feed on sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas), jimsonweed (Datura), and related plants, including moon flowers.  Notice that sweet potatoes belong to the same genus as moon flowers and morning glories.  Here is a pink-spotted hawkmoth captured on my deck:

  My colleague Debbie Long, who also grows moon flowers, took the below picture of a pink-spotted hawkmoth. 

 

    Here is an imperial moth that my wife found along the roadside In September of 2005.  I found another in our yard in July of 2006.

    And here they are on my bedroom wall with a big hornet, a dragonfly, and a very big Polyphemus moth my son caught :

 

PH:  Pink-Spotted Hawkmoth
CS:  Carolina Sphinx
DF:  Dragon Fly
H:  Hornet
IM:  Imperial Moth
PM:  Antheraea polyphemus, Polyphemus Moth.  This specimen has a wing-span of 6 inches.  Here is a close-up of PM on the right and a 4 cm long eyed click beetle.

    Recently added, but not shown here, are black swallowtail butterflies, a luna moth, a great leopard moth, and a stag beetle.    In early August of 2006 I was walking in my yard and to my surprise saw a curious insect carrying, in flight, a bumble bee.  It landed on the chain-link fence around my pool, and stayed there, its proboscis in the bee, long enough for me to get a photo.  My daughter Athena identified it as a robber fly (hanging thief, Diogmites).  Strange looking, isn't it:

 

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