Hawk Moth

Some species fly only for short periods either around dusk or dawn, while other species only appear later in the evening and others around midnight, but such species may occasionally be seen feeding on flowers during the day. A few common species in Africa, such as the Oriental beehawk (Cephonodes hylas virescens), Macroglossum hirundo, and Macroglossum trochilus, are diurnal.

In studies with Manduca sexta, moths have dynamic flight sensory capabilities due to their antennae. The antennae are vibrated in a plane so that when the body of the moth rotates during controlled aerial maneuvers, the antennae are subject to the inertial Coriolis forces that are linearly proportional to the angular velocity of the body. The Coriolis forces cause deflections of the antennae, which are detected by the Johnston's organ at the base of each antenna, with strong frequency responses at the beat frequency of the antennae (around 25 Hz) and at twice the beat frequency. The relative magnitude of the two frequency responses enables the moth to distinguish rotation around the different principal axes, allowing for rapid course control during aerial maneuvers. larva (Hippotion celerio)]] ]]

Most species are multivoltine, capable of producing several generations a year if weather conditions permit. Females lay translucent, greenish, flattened, smooth eggs, usually singly on the host plants. Egg development time varies highly, from three to 21 days. caterpillar seeking a place to pupate: the color of the caterpillar darkens before pupation.]] pupa]] Sphingid caterpillars are medium to large in size, with stout bodies. They have five pairs of prolegs. Larvae are quick to regurgitate their sticky, often toxic, foregut contents on attackers such as ants and parasitoids. Development rate depends on temperature, and to speed development, some northern and high-altitude species sunbathe. Larvae burrow into the soil to pupate, where they remain for two to three weeks before they emerge as adults. In some sphingids, the pupa has a free proboscis, rather than being fused to the pupal case as is most common in the macrolepidoptera. They have a cremaster at the tip of the abdomen. Usually, they pupate off the host plant, in an underground chamber, among rocks, or in a loose cocoon. In most species, the pupa is the overwintering stage.

===Larvae=== , Crows Nest]] Sphingid larvae tend to be specific feeders, rather than generalists. Some species can tolerate quite high concentrations of specific toxins. Tobacco hornworms (Manduca sexta) detoxify and rapidly excrete nicotine, as do several other related sphinx moths in the subfamilies Sphinginae and Macroglossinae, but members of the Smerinthinae that were tested are susceptible. The species that are able to tolerate the toxin do not sequester it in their tissues; 98% was excreted. However, other species, such as Hyles euphorbiae and Daphnis nerii, do sequester toxins from their hosts, but do not pass them on to the adult stage.

Most adults feed on nectar, although a few tropical species feed on eye secretions, and the death's-head hawkmoth steals honey from bees.}} Alfred Russel Wallace published a sort of "wanted poster" (properly, a drawing in a book) of what this lepidopteran might look like, and, concurring with his colleague, added: ]. A species having a proboscis two or three inches longer [] could reach the nectar in the largest flowers of Angraecum sesquipedale, whose nectaries vary in length from ten to fourteen inches []. That such a moth exists in Madagascar may be safely predicted, and naturalists who visit that island should search for it with as much confidence as astronomers searched for the planet Neptune, – and they will be equally successful.}} The predicted sphingid was discovered 21 years later and described as a subspecies of the one African species studied by Wallace: Xanthopan morganii praedicta, for which, the subspecific name praedicta ("the predicted one") was given. The Madagascan individuals had a pink, rather than white, breast and abdomen and a black apical line on the forewing, broader than in mainland specimens. Molecular clock models using either rate- or fossil-based calibrations imply that the Madagascan subspecies X. m. praedicta and the African subspecies X. m. morgani diverged 7.4 ± 2.8 Mya (million years ago), which overlaps the divergence of A. sesquipedale from its sister, A. sororium, namely 7.5 ± 5.2 Mya. Since both these orchids have extremely long spurs, longspurs likely existed before that and were exploited by long-tongued moths similar to Xanthopan morganii praedicta. The long geological separation of subspecies morgani and praedicta matches their morphological differences in the color of the breast and abdomen.

, in Cibodas Botanical Garden, Java]] The Sphingidae is sometimes assigned its own exclusive superfamily, Sphingoidea, but is alternatively included with the more encompassing Bombycoidea. Following Hodges (1971) two subfamilies are accepted, namely the Sphinginae and Macroglossinae. Around 1,450 species of hawk moths are classified into around 200 genera. Some of the best-known hawk moth species are: * Privet hawk moth (Sphinx ligustri) * White-lined Sphinx (Hyles lineata) * Death's-head hawk moth (Acherontia atropos) * Lime hawk moth (Mimas tiliae) * Poplar hawk moth (Laothoe populi) * Convolvulus hawk moth (Agrius convolvuli) * Catalpa sphinx (Ceratomia catalpae) * Hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) * Elephant hawk moth (Deilephila elpenor) * Vine hawk moth (Hippotion celerio) * Spurge hawk moth (Hyles euphorbiae) * Oleander hawk moth (Daphnis nerii) * Pandora sphinx moth (Eumorpha pandorus) * Tomato worm (Manduca quinquemaculata) * Tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta)