Northern Heath Sphinx (Sphinx poecila)

Taxonomy

Domain	Eukarya
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Arthropoda
Subphylum	Hexapoda
Class	Insecta
Subclass	Pterygota
Infraclass	Neoptera
Superorder	Holometabola
Order	Lepidoptera
Superfamily	Bombycoidea
Family	Sphingidae
Subfamily	Sphinginae
Tribe	Sphingini
Genus	Sphinx

Scientific Name

Sphinx poecila

Common Name

poecila sphinx

Maier, C.T.; Lemmon, C.R.; Fengler, J.M.; Schweitzer, D.F.; Reardon, R.C.; Caterpillars on the Foliage of Conifers in the Northeastern United States. Morgantown, WV. USDA Forest Service. Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. FHTET-2004-01. March 2004. 151 p.

Description

Greenish body with oblique lines on abdomen and with prominent middorsal horn on A8. Dark green head with adjacent greenish yellow and dark green streaks from top of lobes to stemmata. Tiny, hollow, purplish black circles concentrated on dorsum and below spiracles; white oblique lines edged above with purplish black and extending from subdorsal to subspiracular area of A1 to A7; last oblique reaches prominent, mainly dark hook on A8. Thorax and abdomen with a bluish green tint below spiracles; brownish red spiracles rimmed with light yellow. Up to 55 mm.

Food

Mainly woody shrubs in heathlands; occasionally eastern larch and possibly white spruce.

Life Cycle

One generation. Pupa overwinters in soil. Mature caterpillar present in August and September.

Comments

Some authorities consider this species to be the apple sphinx, Sphinx gordius, but our evidence suggests that the northern heath sphinx is a distinct species.