Pink-Spotted Hawkmoth (Periwinkle Sphinx)

Agrius cingulata — the pink-spotted hawkmoth (also called the periwinkle sphinx — for the larva's primary host plant) — is one of the largest and most striking hawk moths in the southeastern US and one of about 200 species in family Sphingidae (the hawk moths). The species is widespread across the Americas — year-round populations in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and the southern US, with seasonal migration north to colonize the southeastern US and beyond each summer. Adults are 9-12 cm wingspan with the species' diagnostic features: gray-and-white STRIPED FOREWINGS with intricate dark markings; HINDWINGS with bold pink-and-black bars; and the species' most striking feature: PINK-AND-BLACK BANDED ABDOMEN with bright pink lateral spots on each abdominal segment alternating with black bands (the source of the 'pink-spotted hawkmoth' common name). The species' extraordinary 10-15 cm PROBOSCIS (LONGER THAN THE BODY — the proboscis exceeds 1.5x the body length) makes the pink-spotted hawkmoth one of the LONGEST-TONGUED moths in NA Lepidoptera. The exceptional proboscis length adapts the species to feed at very LONG-TUBED NOCTURNAL FLOWERS — especially angel's trumpet (Brugmansia), datura, evening primrose, and other plants with deep narrow corolla tubes that exclude all but the longest-tongued pollinators. The species is a specialist pollinator of these long-tubed nocturnal flowers and is a flagship species in studies of flower-pollinator coevolution. Adults are nocturnal, hover at flowers like other hawk moths, and feed on nectar through the long extended proboscis. The species is one of the most efficient long-distance NA MIGRATORY MOTHS. Adults migrate north from year-round populations in Mexico and the Caribbean each summer to colonize the southeastern US, with rare migrant individuals reaching as far north as southern Canada (documented records in Ontario, Quebec, Maine, and other northern locations). Northern populations cannot overwinter and die in autumn — the cycle resets each year through the spring northward migration. The migration is similar to (but smaller in scale than) the more famous monarch butterfly and cloudless sulphur migrations. Larvae are 8-10 cm long when fully grown, color-polymorphic (light green, dark green, or brown variants in the same population), with the typical sphinx-moth dorsal horn on the eighth abdominal segment. Larvae feed on plants in family Convolvulaceae (the morning glory family) — primarily PERIWINKLE (Catharanthus roseus — the source of the alternative common name 'periwinkle sphinx') and morning glories (Ipomoea). The species is harmless to humans and is a major beneficial pollinator across the Americas.