DISTRIBUTION:

The White-plagued Sphinx, Manduca albiplaga (Wing span: 4 3/4 - 7 inches (12 - 18 cm), females larger than males), flies from Brazil (specimen type locality) north through Central America, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, etc. to Venezuela.

It also flies in Bolivia: La Paz: Murillo, Río Zongo, 750m; and in Santa Cruz: Santa Cruz, Janson; and in Ichilo, Buena Vista, 450; and in Mutún, 20 miles W of Puerto Suárez, 1500'.

This species has been found only once in the United States, in Kansas.

The upperside of the forewing is dark brown, "plagued" with two large white patches.

Manduca albiplaga male, courtesy of Hubert Mayer.

FLIGHT TIMES:

Manduca albiplaga adults fly as two broods from February - May and July - September in Costa Rica. Females are most active from 12:20 am until 2:00 am; males from 2:00 until 4:00. Males come in to lights, females do not.

In Bolivia it has been taken in November.

ECLOSION:

Pupae probably wiggle to surface from subterranean chambers just prior to eclosion.

Manduca albiplaga 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. Adults take nectar from flowers.

EGGS, LARVAE, PUPAE:

Gregarious larvae have black anal horns and feed on Cordia in the Boraginaceae family and plants in the Annonaceae family, including Rollinia deliciosa. Larvae have also been reported on Manihot esculenta.

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