Hyles lineata

White-lined sphinx
Hyles lineata feeding
The caterpillar varies widely in coloration, from black with stripes to green with red spots.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Sphingidae
Genus: Hyles
Species:
H. lineata
Binomial name
Hyles lineata
(Fabricius, 1775)[1]
Synonyms
  • Sphinx lineata Fabricius, 1775
  • Celerio lineata
  • Deilephila lineata
  • Sphinx daucus Cramer, [1777]
  • Sphinx lineata americana Laporte, 1830
  • Celerio lineata florilega Kernbach, 1962
  • Celerio lineata lineatoides Gehlen, 1934

Hyles lineata, also known as the white-lined sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. They are sometimes known as a "hummingbird moth" because of their bird-like size (2-3 inch wingspan) and flight patterns.[2]

As caterpillars, they have a wide range of color phenotypes but show consistent adult coloration.[3] With a wide geographic range throughout Central and North America, H. lineata is known to feed on many different host plants as caterpillars and pollinate a variety of flowers as adults.[4][5]

Larvae are powerful eaters and are known to form massive groupings capable of damaging crops and gardens.[5] As adults, they use both visual and olfactory perception to locate plants from which they collect nectar.[6]

  1. ^ "Sphingidae Taxonomic Inventory: Hyles lineata". sphingidae.myspecies.info. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
  2. ^ "Species Spotlight: White-Lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata) - Cabrillo National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
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