Amphimoea

Amphimoea is a monotypic moth genus in the family Sphingidae erected by Walter Rothschild and Karl Jordan in 1903. Its only species, Amphimoea walkeri, the Darwin hawkmoth, described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1875, is found from Mexico south to Argentina.

Amphimoea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Sphingidae
Tribe: Sphingini
Genus: Amphimoea
Rothschild & Jordan, 1903
Species:
A. walkeri
Binomial name
Amphimoea walkeri
(Boisduval, 1875)[1]
Synonyms
  • Amphonyx walkeri Boisduval, 1875
  • Amphonyx staudingeri H. Druce, 1888
  • Cocytius magnificus Rothschild, 1894[2]
  • Cocytius misionum Köhler, 1924

Description

The wingspan is 147–164 mm.[3] Adults are on wing year round. They have the longest insect proboscis in the world and nectar from deep-throated flowers while hovering in the air.

Biology

The larvae feed on Anaxagorea crassipetala.

  • Female
  • Female underside
  • Male
  • Male underside

References
  1. "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-11-14. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  2. Rothschild, Walter (1894). "Notes on Sphingidae with Descriptions of New Species". Novitates Zoologicae. 1 (1): 92 – via Internet Archive.
  3. Oehlke, Bill (June 3, 2014). "Amphimoea walkeri The Darwin Hawkmoth (Boisduval, [1875])". Sphingidae of the Americas. Retrieved December 31, 2018.


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