Twin-spotted sphinx (NPS Manassas National Battlefield Park Butterflies and Moths)

Twin-spotted sphinx

Smerinthus jamaicensis

Summary ⁶

The Twin-spotted Sphinx (Smerinthus jamaicensis) is a moth of the Sphingidae family. It is widely distributed across North America and is found everywhere except in the southern half of western California. It has been taken as far north as the Yukon.

General description ⁷

A medium-sized (5.0-7.0 cm wingspan) sphinx moth with pale grey forewings with darker grey and black markings. Hindwings are pink hindwings with a wide white border and a large black spot in the anal angle, which contains two parallel blue spots or bars. It can be confused only with the One-eyed Sphinx, which is larger and has a more complex dark pattern on the forewings. The combination of the two blue bars in the hindwing spot (a circle in the One-eyed sphinx) and the sharp border between the pink and the pale ground of the hindwing (shading together in One-eyed sphinx) will identify the Twin-spot Sphinx. Male Twin-spot sphinx also have much longer pectinations of the antennae than do males of One-eyed sphinx. D. Macaulay image