Blinded Sphinx

Fascinating facts about the Blinded Sphinx

• Its larvae emerge from eggs in just eight days, then feast on willows, birch, cherries, ninebark and roses. After feeding, they dig shallow soil chambers to pupate, and the moment they emerge as adults they pair off immediately. This rapid life cycle shows how tightly timed their development is to seasonal plant growth.
• It is found from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island across Canada to British Columbia, and in the United States from Florida in the east to eastern California and central Texas.
• The blinded sphinx is nocturnal; after a brief bout of activity after dusk it prefers the later hours of the night.
• When a blinded sphinx emerges from its pupal case it almost instantly seeks a partner. The adults almost immediately mate.
• The eggs of the blinded sphinx are small and greenish-yellow, and they require roughly eight days before the tiny hornworms break through. After this incubation period the larvae emerge ready to begin feeding on a range of deciduous trees and shrubberies such as willows, birch, cherries, ninebark and roses. This diet provides the nutrients needed for the caterpillars to grow rapidly before they burrow shallowly into soil to pupate.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Blinded Sphinx

In the warm, golden light of dusk, the Blinded Sphinx moth stirs, its delicate wings unfolding like dark, velvety petals as it takes to the evening air. With a gentle, wavering flight, it navigates the intricate tapestry of its forest habitat, guided by the sensitive twitch of its antennae as it searches for the sweet, heady scent of blooming flowers. As it moves, its muted, earthy tones blend seamlessly into the shadows, rendering this enigmatic creature all but invisible, a fleeting whisper of life in the fading light of day.

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