Saturday, April 27, 2013

White-lined Sphinx moth


     My wife took this amazing picture of a White-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata) visiting the beautiful inflorescences of the Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans, syn. E. fastuosum), which have beautiful blue flowers with red stamens and are found all over Palisades Park in Santa Monica, CA.  The White-lined sphinx moth follows a bee-line foraging strategy; so the individuals we observed visiting these flowers stayed for about 15min and then left the park!  Here's a cool paper by Casey 1976.