Erinnyis obscura male courtesy of Dan Janzen.

This site has been created by Bill Oehlke at oehlkew@islandtelecom.com
Comments, suggestions and/or additional information are welcomed by Bill.

TAXONOMY: Family: Sphingidae, Latreille, 1802 Subfamily: Macroglossinae, Harris, 1839 Tribe: Dilophonotini, Burmeister, 1878 Genus: Erinnyis Hubner, [1819] ........... Species: obscura Fabricius 1775

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DISTRIBUTION:

The Obscure sphinx, Erinnyis obscura (Wing span: 2 3/16 - 2 9/16 inches (5.6 - 6.5 cm)), flies in tropical and subtropical lowlands from Uruguay west to Bolivia and north through Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies to Florida, Mississippi, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California. This species has also strayed to Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania.

The female moth has almost uniformly grey forewings with black markings on the basal half and near the center of the costa like Erinnyis ello; some females are nearly all black. The upperside of the male forewing is pale gray with black markings and a black line in the center running from the base to about three-fourths of the wing length. In both sexes, the hindwing upperside is orange with a narrow black border.

Erinnyis obscura male, Islamorada, Monroe County, Florida,
November 19, 2008, courtesy of Kevin and Shelby Heeter.

FLIGHT TIMES:

Erinnyis obscura broods continuously in the tropics and in southern Florida and southern Texas.

During the night adults nectar at flowers, including bouncing bet (Saponaria officinalis) and Asystasia gangetica beginning at dusk.

Moths are on the wing from July-August in the southern United States. Further northward there is a single flight from August-October. In Costa Rica moths have been taken in all months except March and September.

Lynda McGinnis reports a very early sighting in Missouri, April 28, near Lake of the Ozarks by Jack Richerson.

ECLOSION: Adults eclose from pupae formed in loose cocoons spun among surface litter. Pupal stage can be as few as fourteen days. SCENTING AND MATING: Females call in the males with a pheromone released from a gland at the tip of the abdomen. Adults begin feeding at sunset. Erinnyis obscura female courtesy of Dan Janzen. EGGS, LARVAE, PUPAE: Larvae probably feed on various plants in the dogbane family (Apocynaceae): Rauvolfia ligustrina, Rauvolfia tetraphylla, Stemmadenia obovata, Philibertia, Cynanchum, and on papaya (Carica papaya, Caricaceae), and Asclepiadaceae. Some plants in the spurge family are also used and Blepharodon mucronatum is a host in Costa Rica. In Florida larvae have been found on white vine (Sarcostemma clausum) and on Morrenia odorata. Erinnyis obscura, Costa Rica, courtesy of Dan Janzen. Return to U. S. A. Table Return to Sphingidae Index Return to Dilophonotini Tribe