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White-lined Sphinx Hummingbird Moths
Hyles lineata

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At the end of April and beginning of May, these caterpillars are all over my pentas. They grow surprisingly large. This is the lighter version of the White-lined Sphinx Moth caterpillar. Searching the internet, I found many more photos of the darker caterpillar rather than this light one. These caterpillars will burrow in the ground to pupate. Concerned that these caterpillars are destroying your garden? Remove them and rear them away from your garden as I did. (See bottom of main Hummingbird Moths page.)

(Original website was named Texas Bird Watcher)

May 26, 2002 - Pupa emits a crackling sound white it twists back and forth and the moth quickly emerges. This photo of the pupa was taken only an hour before the moth broke free of it. Look closely at the center of the pupa. You can see the wing design showing through. The head of the moth is to the right side of the photo.

This image shows the small size of the wings as soon as the moth emerged. The moth began running as soon as it emerged and continued to circle the bowl daring me to get a still photograph. The results are poor but adequate to demonstrate the wing size.

See the wing size...

Twenty minutes later (and possibly much sooner) the wings had already expanded in length and size.

See the wings expanding in length...

Here is a good image to show how the jaws open up. You can see the curled proboscis.

Open jaws...proboscis curled inside...


Side view of curled proboscis...


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