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Carolina sphinx
Manduca sexta sexta, (Linnaeus, 1763)
32.8674, -97.2755
Field Notes
Description:
It is a large moth in he family (Sphingidae). The moth has 2 sets of two wings with a fighter jet shaped wings that makes it fly very well. The species is very similar to M.quincumaculatus, but the forewing and hindwing differences are quite large. The first difference is the darker color compared to quincumaculatus, another one is the zigzag line on the forewing tip. The largest difference is on the hindwing. the hindwing colors are swapped, the sexta has more black while quincumaculatus has more white. The abdomen is grey with bright orange spots.
Habitat:
Suburban habitat. Raised from a wild caterpillar in Fort Worth, Texas.
Found first on Roma tomato, (Solanum lycopersicum). The pic of the same caterpillar is on my previous posts. This species likes woodlands as well as suburban areas in the Americas, but other sub-species can be found in tropical rain forests of Central and South America. Some examples are/
M.sexta saliensis from Argentina or M.sexta caestri from Chile. The species is very adaptable to many climates and habitats.
Notes:
The specimen in the picture was a female with a flat tip to the abdomen and larger wingspan and abdomen. The males tend to be smaller that the females but the rules don't apply to every specimen. The sub-species in this picture is M.sexta sexta which is the most common and widely distributed sub-species of Manduca sexta.
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