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Photograph copyright: ozwildlife - all rights reserved. Used with permission.
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INSECT FACTS |
Identification
The adult Convolvulus Hawk-moth is grey with a light and dark pattern on the wings. The abdomen has pink patches on the side of each segment. They can hover in flight, and they have a long haustellum, which is extended to suck nectar when they hover over a flower. When threatened, the moths show the bright coloured bars on the abdomen. Caterpillars are green when they hatch with a straight tail horn. Later instars can become either green or dark brown. They have pale diagonal stripes along the sides, a backward curved horn on the tail and vertical stripes on the head.
Size
wingspan 8cm
Food
The caterpillars feed on leaves of plants in the Convolvulacae family. They are a pest of Sweet Potatoes in New Guinea and Indonesia. They also feed on various garden plants such as Morning Glory ( Ipomoea sp.).
Breeding
The smooth white oval eggs are laid singly on the upper surface of a leaf of a food plant. The caterpillar pupates in the soil some distance from the food plant.
Range
found throughout Australia, including Tasmania.
Classification
| Class: | Insecta | | Order: | Lepidoptera | | Family: | Sphingidae | | Genus: | Agrius | | Species: | convolvuli | | Common Name: | Convolvulus Hawk-moth |
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