Oh wow oh wow oh wow
I know these were also reported as Steve Job’s dying words. I also use these kind of words with some unexpected encounters with nature. I did with these as correctly identified by some blog followers. Caterpillars of the Spurge Hawk-moth just look amazing. It’s very a rare as a flying moth in Britain and only one record of the caterpillar. For more see here.
I saw some on Linosa, thanks to Andrea Corso who was ‘grazing them’.
That’s a Spurge Hawk-moth, Hyles euphorbiae.
Is it a Spurge Hawkmoth cat, Martin?
Thanks guys- of course you were right!
Hi Martin,
Any chance of being able to use one of your photos on my web site Sphingidae of the western Palaearctic? Looks like one of those odd populations from this area (Tunisia, Sicily, Malta) which are mixes of Hyles euphorbiae, Hyles tithymali and a relict population which makes up the bulk of the ‘Spurge hawkmoths’ found in Sicily and most of the Italian peninsula.
Cheers,
Tony
Sure Tony- fire away- email me if you need larger files
Martin
…and they are now morphed into nice pupae, waiting to fledge and get a single leg analised for DNA (then realesed next Spring into where they born)