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My Home:
I am found through out the United States and Canada. I primarily hide
during the day and emerge at dusk or during the early morning hours.
What I
eat: As a caterpillar, I eat the
leaves and stems of plants. As an adult moth, I drink the nectar from
flowers. I will go from flower to flower hovering over them and I am
often confused with the hummingbird.
What I
look like: As a caterpillar, I
am green and have a pointed 'horn' on my rear end. As an adult moth, I
have a long narrow set of front wings and a shorter set of back wings.
My wingspan can be 2 to 8 inches from tip to tip.
How I am
born: I will go through four
stages of development: egg, caterpillar, pupa (cocoon), and adult.
Females lay as many as 1,000 eggs on leaves. My egg will hatch in two
to three days into a caterpillar. I will eat and grow bigger for about
three weeks. Then I will go down into the ground to pupate, which is
similar to a butterfly making a cocoon. In about two weeks I will emerge
directly from the ground as an adult moth. It takes me about six weeks
to go from egg to adult moth.
Fun
Facts: Their size and rapid wing
beats, allows them to hover and feed like hummingbirds, which is why
they were nicknamed 'hummingbird moths'. People often mistakenly think
the horn shape on the back of the sphinx caterpillar is a stinger. |
