Conservation Status
provided by University of Alberta Museums
Introduced species, no concerns.
- license
- cc-by-nc
- copyright
- University of Alberta Museums
Cyclicity
provided by University of Alberta Museums
Adults on the wing late June - July.
- license
- cc-by-nc
- copyright
- University of Alberta Museums
Distribution
provided by University of Alberta Museums
Central and southern Europe. Introduced into western Canada. In Alberta it has apparently become established at a number of locations in the grasslands in the southern part of the province.
- license
- cc-by-nc
- copyright
- University of Alberta Museums
General Description
provided by University of Alberta Museums
A large (6.5 -9.0 cm. wingspan) narrow-winged large-bodied moth. The forewing is light brown with darker brown markings, the paler brown areas speckled with black. Two dark patches extent inward from the costa, and the outer third of the forewing is sharply divided from the rest of the forewing, a dark brown shading outward to light brown. The hindwing is black with a wide rose-pink median band and a narrower terminal band. Very similar to the closely related Bedstraw Hawk-moth (H. gallii), which differs in having a sharply defined black, cream and grey forewing pattern without any speckling in the pale areas, and with the entire costa broadly black. The White-lined Sphinx (H. lineata) has the forewing veins all marked in white.
- license
- cc-by-nc
- copyright
- University of Alberta Museums
Habitat
provided by University of Alberta Museums
Pastures, grasslands and riparian areas infested with Leafy Spurge.
- license
- cc-by-nc
- copyright
- University of Alberta Museums
Life Cycle
provided by University of Alberta Museums
Like other members of the genus, adults are on the wing mainly in the late evening and after dark, and come to light. The Spurge Hawk Moth was introduced at several sites in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan in the late 1960's as a possible biological control for Leafy Spurge. They are now established at a number of sites in southern Alberta (i.e. Medicine Hat and Lethbridge). The larva is a large conspicuous black, red and yellow insect. Its effectiveness as a biological control agent is apparently a very minor one.
- license
- cc-by-nc
- copyright
- University of Alberta Museums
Trophic Strategy
provided by University of Alberta Museums
Members of the Spurge family (Euphorbiae); in Alberta, introduced as a biological control agent for Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia escula L.).
- license
- cc-by-nc
- copyright
- University of Alberta Museums
Hyles euphorbiae
provided by wikipedia EN
Hyles euphorbiae, the spurge hawk-moth, is a European moth of the family Sphingidae. This hawk moth is used as an agent of biological pest control against the noxious weed leafy spurge (Euphorbia virgata), but usually only in conjunction with other agents.[1] The larvae consume the leaves and bracts of the plant. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
Description
The Spurge Hawk-Moth - Fore wings grey, with an almost square olive-brown blotch; at the base another olive-brown blotch near the middle, and a long oblique band of the same colour, commencing in a point at the extreme apex of the wing, and gradually growing wider until it reaches the margin, where it is very broad: hind wings pink, with a black blotch at the base, and a black band half-way between this black blotch and the margin, and a snowy-white blotch at the anal angle: thorax and body olive-brown, with a white line on each side of the thorax just at the base of the wings; this line runs on each side along the head just above the eye, and the two meet at the nose; the body has on each side at the base two square black spots and two square white spots, and beyond them, nearer the apex, and also on each side, are three white lines.
The caterpillar is smooth and black, with innumerable whitish dots; there are also eleven large spots of the same colour arrayed in a row on each side of the back, and beneath these as many spots of the same size and of a bright coral-red colour; the head is of the same coral-red colour, and a line of the same colour runs all along the back, from the head to the horn; the horn is red at the base and black at the tip. It feeds on sea-spurge.
The chrysalis is pale brown and delicately lined and dotted with black in the manner of network; it buries itself in the loose dry sand on the sea coast.
The eggs are covered with liquid gum, which enables them to stick on the small leaves of the spurge. In a fortnight these hatch and produce little black caterpillars; the white and red spots appear as the caterpillar increases in size, and in a few weeks it becomes a most beautiful object, and so conspicuous as to attract the sea-gulls and terns, which devour them in numbers. We have never had the pleasure of finding either the caterpillar or perfect moth. Our description of the caterpillar is taken from the Entomological Magazine.
-
This information was taken from the public-domain The Illustrated Natural History of British Moths (1869) by Edward Newman.
Subspecies
- Hyles euphorbiae euphorbiae
-
Hyles euphorbiae conspicua (Rothschild & Jordan, 1903) (Middle East)
References
-
^ Coombs, E. M., et al., Eds. (2004). Biological Control of Invasive Plants in the United States. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 254.
- license
- cc-by-sa-3.0
- copyright
- Wikipedia authors and editors
Hyles euphorbiae: Brief Summary
provided by wikipedia EN
Hyles euphorbiae, the spurge hawk-moth, is a European moth of the family Sphingidae. This hawk moth is used as an agent of biological pest control against the noxious weed leafy spurge (Euphorbia virgata), but usually only in conjunction with other agents. The larvae consume the leaves and bracts of the plant. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
- license
- cc-by-sa-3.0
- copyright
- Wikipedia authors and editors
