The sphinx moth

Posted to: Home and Garden Virginia Beach

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L. Todd spencer | The Virginian-Pilot

Sphinx moths unroll their slender feeding tube right into the center of a long-necked flower and suck away at the nectar as if the tube were a straw. (L. Todd spencer | The Virginian-Pilot)

ATTRACTING SPHINX MOTHS TO YOUR YARD

Some gardeners grow moonflower vines every year or plant ginger lilies in their gardens for the sole purpose of attracting sphinx moths in the fall.

The sweet scents of these white flowers, so visible at night, are favorites of the big, beautiful moths. The combination of flowers and moths is a special two-for-one bonus for the fall garden.

Ginger lilies are a favorite hand-me-down plant, and you can often get a clump from a neighbor who is dividing lilies or find them at local plant sales and swaps. Smithfield Gardens in Smithfield is one of the local nurseries that sells ginger lilies and some catalogs have them. Also try www.plantdelights.com.

The lilies have long green leaves, several feet tall, and clusters of pretty 2-inch white flowers at the top that are often used in Hawaiian leis. They grow in full sun or part shade and though semi-tropical, they are hardy perennials here. Growing from rhizomes, they spread quickly.

You also might be able to get moonflower vine seeds from a friend this time of year and save them until next year. Moonflower vine seeds are readily available on seed racks and in most seed catalogs in spring.

The fast-growing annual vine with pretty heart-shaped leaves is a sun lover, but it blooms only in late afternoon and evening. As the sun
goes down, out come big, blowsy morning-glorylike flowers. The handsome buds are white flutes, edged in green, and the seed pods are a rich purple color.
– Mary Reid Barrow

By Mary Reid Barrow
The Virginian-Pilot
© November 2, 2008

When the heady scent of ginger lilies and moonflowers permeates the autumn air at dusk, look for white-lined sphinx moths close at hand.

Drawn by the sweet perfume in these white flowers that brighten the night, the beautiful moths waft in to sip nectar in the day's waning light.

The sight of these big pink, white and brown moths causes a double take. They aren't what they seem to be. They are moths but there they are, hovering with whirring wings, feeding on nectar deep in a flower's center, behaving just like a hummingbird.

The moth's unexpected arrival in fall is always a delightful surprise for those lucky enough to see them. Suddenly they arrive, floating around the flowers, often in numbers, and their graceful hummingbirdlike behavior never ceases to amaze.

Peter Schultz, an entomologist and director of the Virginia Tech Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Virginia Beach, saw the moths for the very first time in his neighborhood recently. They were feeding on his neighbor's ginger lilies sometime around 6:30 p.m.

"They are startling both by their size and beauty," Schultz said. "It's fascinating to watch them hover like hummingbirds."

With a wingspan that can be over 3 inches, sphinx moths appear to feed like hummingbirds, too, but no. Look closely.

Instead of lapping up nectar with a long tongue the way hummingbirds do, sphinx moths use a proboscis, about as long as their bodies, that's coiled up under their heads. They unroll the slender feeding tube right into the center of a long-necked flower and suck away as if the tube were a straw.

Sphinx moths are not rare, but people don't see them very often, probably because of the flowers they especially like and the time they feed.

"Another 20 minutes and I wouldn't have been able to see them," Schultz said.

Sometimes they are called hummingbird moths, but that name can be confusing. A clearwing moth that flies in the day also behaves somewhat the same way and one of its common names is also "hummingbird moth."

"White-lined sphinx moth" is not a descriptive name either, because the moth's pink color is what stands out amid the white and brown. Of several species of sphinx moths, this is one of the most colorful.

It's hard to believe that the genes of this handsome moth could be responsible for a caterpillar as frightening as a hornworm, but they are. All species of sphinx moths come from the chrysalises of various hornworm caterpillars. Hornworms have a formidable-looking, though harmless, hornlike projection on their back. Even scarier is their huge size, as caterpillars go.

"Of course," Shultz, said, "because they become such big moths."

Almost as big as hummingbirds.

Mary Reid Barrow, barrow1@cox.net