8/6/2019 More common hawk moths

1/2

In a previous article on common

hawk moths* I described the general

characteristics of hawk moths (Sphingi-

dae or sphinx moths) and dealt in some

detail with the Common Striped Hawk and

the African Humming Bird Hawk. I shall now

introduce two other common hawk moths

that also turn up in many places including

private gardens, especially if there are food-

plants for their larvae on offer.

The Deaths Head Hawk

The most outstanding external feature of the

Deaths Head Hawk ( Acherontia atropos) isthe skull pattern on its thorax that may well

frighten somebody not familiar with this

harmless creature, but would hardly function

as a deterrent for predators. Females of this

heavy-bodied moth have a wingspan of up

to 120 mm, males on average being a little

smaller. The Deaths Head Hawk is unpopular

with apiarists because it burgles beehives

to feast on honey. Otherwise this nightly

visitor causes no damage or harm to the

bees. The moths nickname Bee Hawk should

not confuse this insect with the Oriental BeeHawk (Cephonodes hylas virescens) a day-

flying moth with translucent, hyaline wings

and a greenish-yellow body that resembles a

large bee, presumably to scare off potential

predators. I have occasionally found this

moth feeding on nectar from the flowers of

the Canary Creeper (Senecio tamoides) in my

garden in Sea Point.

The honey-stealing habit of the Deaths

Head Hawk stems from the fact that unlike

other hawk moths that possess a long hollow

tongue (proboscis) this hawk has a very short

proboscis, useless for imbibing nectar hidden

deep down in flowers. How this large moth

avoids being stung to death by the bees

when it enters a hive is not really known, but

it is believed that it

imitates sounds made

by the queen bee to confuse

the bees guarding the entrance to

the hive. Be that as it may, bee keepers have

told me that not all of these moths that enter

their bee hives leave unscathed and that they

have come across dead specimens left behind

in the hives and covered with propolis. These

unfortunate individuals must have died from

being stung too often by the irate bees.

The bees cover unfamiliar objects such as

dead moths that are too large to be physically

removed from the hive, with a dark, stickysubstance called bee-glue or propolis. Bees

manufacture propolis from resinous material

collected from plants, especially buds, and

use it in their hives as a crack filler to cover

up openings and gaps and to secure combs.

Another reason for the unpopularity of

this moth is that its greedy caterpillars feed

on the leaves of crop plants such as potato,

tomato, gooseberry and even on fresh leaves

of Cannabis. The larvae also feed on Lan-

tana, Salvia, Cape Honeysuckle (Tecoma) and

many others.When touched, the Deaths Head Hawk

squeaks, probably to frighten or confuse an

attacker. Even their larvae and pupae can

make audible scratchy noises when touched.

The large fully grown larvae reach a length

of about 150 mm and occur in various shades

of green, yellow and brown. (A possible

advantage to larvae of occurring in more

than one colour variety was referred to my

previous article* on common hawk moths.)

In spite of their large size and bright colours,

even fully grown larvae are not easily spotted,

where they cling against the underside of

leaves on which they feed. Prior to pupation

the mature larva burrows into the ground

and builds a safe chamber by compacting

loose soil around itself. During summer the

bulky, stout pupa takes about three weeks

to complete metamorphosis into the adult

moth that digs itself out of its chamber and

surrounding soil to reach the surface.

The pupa is often parasitized by large hairy

flies of the family Tachinidae that oviposit in

the moth larva and whose own larvae, after

first feeding on the non-essential parts of themoth larva, complete their development in

the pupa from which they eventually emerge

as adult flies.

The Fulvous Hawk

The Fulvous Hawk (Coelonia fulvinotata) or

Sphinx is similar in size, appearance, colour

and markings to the Deaths Head Hawk

but does not have the skull mark on its

thorax and, in contrast to the Deaths Head

Hawk, possesses a very long tongue, twice

its body length and equalled only by that ofthe Convolvulus Hawk (Herse convolvuli). The

spike on its rear end is much longer in the

larva of the Convolvulus Hawk and curved

upwards, while in the Deaths Head Hawk

larva it is quite short and more granular or

pimply in appearance. This moth is widely

distributed in Africa including South Africa. I

once found a dead specimen with a damaged

left wing in my back yard. I guess that it

had been attacked by a nightly predator.

Andrew Morton of Blue Bottle Guest House

in Muizenberg took photos of the larvae he

found feeding on tomato plants in his garden

More common hawk mothsThe Deaths Head Hawk and the Fulvous Hawk

by Andr Claassens

Deaths Head Hawk

(Acherontia atropos).Photo: A. Claassens.

BELOW LEFT: Deaths Head Hawk larva. Photo: J. Joannou.BELOW: Deaths Head Hawk. Photo: J. Joannou.

VELD&FLORA | JUNE 201178

8/6/2019 More common hawk moths

2/2

and reared the adult moth from them. My

younger granddaughters found, to their

great excitement, a large caterpillar feeding

on tomato in their garden in Newlands, Cape

Town. This larva duly pupated but being

parasitized, failed to produce the adult moth.

The larvae vary in colour, but green-yellow to

green individuals with dark oblique stripes

are common. Much lighter colour varieties

occur sometimes even on the same plant.

Like the larvae of the Deaths Head Hawk the

larvae of the Fulvous Hawk are polyphagous,

feeding on a wide variety of plants such as

Solanum species (Potato Creeper), tobacco,

Salvia, Cape Honeysuckle, Coleus, Lantana

and Convovulus. Anneke Kearney photo-

graphed a brown colour variety of the larva

that she found feeding on a Tree Fuchsia

(Halleria lucida) in Kenilworth, Cape Town,

which is probably a new food-plant record for

this moth. (See Veld & Flora, September 2009,

p. 162.) H. lucida was one of three indigenoustrees selected as Tree of the Year in 2009.

Before pupation the mature larva moves

down the food-plant onto the soil below

where it gathers some debris and sand around

itself, forming a loosely woven chamber in

which it completes pupation, a process that

takes eight to ten days. The 55 mm long

pupa at first has a shiny brown abdomen and

light green to yellow wing cases that, like

the abdomen, turn dark brown within a few

days. The prominent hook arched backward

over the front of the pupa houses the long

proboscis of the future adult moth or imago.

The posterior spike, a very characteristic

feature of the larva, is lost in the pupa. The

imago emerges after about three weeks in

summer, but during winter the pupa, like that

of other hawk moths and moths in general,

hibernates until the warmer days of late

spring or early summer.

Biological importance of hawk moths

Although hawk moth caterpillars can be a

nuisance in the garden because of their great

appetite for certain plants, the adult moths

with their long tongues (except of course

the Deaths Head Hawk) play an important

role in pollinating flowers with deep tubular

corollas, such as the Cape Honeysuckle, and

many other exotic flowers like petunias and

Wild Tobacco (Nicotiana) with its clusters of

trumpet flowers reminiscent of vuvuzelas.

Short-tongued insects avoid these flowers

and consequently do not pollinate them.

While the Humming Bird Hawk is confined

to Africa, the other hawk moths mentioned

not only occur throughout most of Africa,

but also in Europe and Asia. I remember as

a child catching Deaths Head Hawk Moths

in our garden in the humble village of Mill in

the south of Holland. The vast geographical

distribution of hawk moths is due to their

migrating habits, strong flight and wide

choice of food-plants, many of which occur

almost worldwide.

Biological control of hawk moths

We are not alone in the fight against

caterpillars because many vertebrate and

invertebrate insectivores provide free bio-

logical control by feeding on the larvae as

well as on the adult moths. The larvae are

also attacked by parasitoids such as certainwasps and flies whose larvae feed on non-

essential tissues of their prey, preventing it

developing into an adult moth. Moth eggs

are often attacked by tiny parasiti c wasps that

oviposit in them to allow their minute larvae

to complete development by consuming the

contents of the eggs and emerge from them

as a new generation of tiny parasitoids ready

to attack more newly laid moths eggs.

*Veld & Flora, 96(4), 170-171.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Andrew Morton for the pictures of the

larva of the Fulvous Hawk; to Charles Botha for

allowing me to extract John Joannous picture of

the larva of the Deaths Head Hawk from the article

Gardening for Wildlife he wrote for Village Life 30,

June/July 2008, and to John Joannou for the picture

of the Deaths Head Hawk in natural position.

READING

Claassens, Andr. 2010. Common garden hawk

moths. Veld & Flora96(4), 170-171.

Kroon, D.M. 1999. Lepdidoptera of southern Africa.Host- plants and other associations. A catalogue.

Lepidopterists Society of Africa.

Pinhey, E.C.G. l975. Moths of southern Africa. Tafelberg,

Cape Town.

Pinhey, E.C.G. l962. Hawk moths of central and

southern Africa. Longmans, Cape Town.

Vari, L., Kroon, D.M. & Kruger. M. 2002. Classification

and checklist of the species of Lepidoptera recorded in

southern Africa. D.M. Kroon, Sasolburg.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

oviposit Lay an egg or eggs.

proboscis A tube formed from the elongated

mouth parts of an insect, used for imbibing

liquid food such as nectar from flowers. Often

referred to as a hollow tongue. Derived from

the Greek word proboskis meaning trunk.

propolis Bee glue. Derived from the Greek

wordspro meaning for andpolis meaning city.

TOP: Fulvous Hawk with slightly damaged wing.Photo: A. Claassens.ABOVE: Fulvous Hawk larva - light green colour variety.Photo: A Morton.BELOW: Fulvous Hawk larva - dark colour variety. Photo: AMorton.BOTTOM: Fulvous Hawk pupa. Photo: A. Claassens.

LEFT: Oriental Bee Hawk. Photo: A. Claassens.

JUNE 2011 | VELD&FLORA 79