White-Lined Sphinx

Hyles lineata — the white-lined sphinx — is one of the most widespread hawk moths on Earth, occurring across all of North America (from southern Canada through Central America), as well as Eurasia and Africa, and is one of the most-encountered hawk moths in North American backyards. Adults are 6-9 cm wingspan, with brown forewings marked with a distinctive WHITE LINE running diagonally from the wing base to the wing tip and series of white veins crossing it; the hindwings are pink with black bands. The body is fat and bullet-shaped, with the typical hawk-moth (Sphingidae) muscular thorax that powers the species' famous hovering flight. The species' identifying behavior is HUMMINGBIRD-MIMIC HOVERING. White-lined sphinxes hover at flowers (especially long-tubed nocturnal flowers like evening primrose, datura, four-o'clock, and honeysuckle) at dawn and dusk, beating their wings at ~25 Hz (similar to hummingbird wing-beat frequency) and feeding on nectar through a long extended proboscis (3-5 cm). The hovering behavior, body shape, and dusk-active timing make the white-lined sphinx so similar to a hummingbird that observers commonly misidentify them — even some experienced naturalists initially identify hovering white-lined sphinxes as hummingbirds. The species is one of the most efficient pollinators of long-tubed nocturnal flowers and is a flagship species of southwestern US desert flora-pollinator coevolution research. Larvae are equally familiar in southwestern US natural history — large (8-10 cm) green-and-yellow caterpillars with black markings and a prominent dorsal 'HORN' on the eighth abdominal segment (the diagnostic feature of all sphinx moth larvae). Larvae feed on a wide range of host plants (purslane, evening primrose, fuchsia, grape, apple) and occasionally appear in MASSIVE OUTBREAK POPULATIONS across the southwestern US, with thousands of caterpillars per hectare crossing roads in search of pupation sites — a flagship desert ecology phenomenon documented in major works on southwestern natural history. The species is harmless to humans and is a major beneficial pollinator across most of its range.