Erinnyis yucatana 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: yucatana Druce, 1888

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DISTRIBUTION:

Erinnyis yucatana (Wing span: 92-96 mm), flies in Mexico (specimen type locality) and Belize south to at least Costa Rica.

The spelling most often used is yucatana. Perhaps it was originally "misspelled" as yacatana, likely to indicate a range in Yucatan.

FLIGHT TIMES:

Erinnyis yucatana probably broods continuously in the tropics.

ECLOSION:

Adults eclose from pupae formed in loose cocoons spun among surface litter. Eclosions can occur within fourteen days.

Erinnyis yucatana female courtesy of Dan Janzen.

SCENTING AND MATING:

Females call in the males with a pheromone released from a gland at the tip of the abdomen.

EGGS, LARVAE, PUPAE:

Larvae probably feed on papaya (Carica papaya) in the Caricaceae family, Manihot esculenta in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), and various plants (Macroscepis obovata) in the milkweed family (Asclepiadaceae).

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