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 | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Sphingidae |
Tribe: | Sphingini |
Genus: | Amphimoea Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 |
Species: | A. walkeri
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Binomial name | |
Amphimoea walkeri | |
Synonyms | |
Description
editThe 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
editThe larvae feed on Anaxagorea crassipetala.
Gallery
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Female
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Female underside
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Male
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Male underside
References
edit- ^ "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-11-14. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
- ^ Rothschild, Walter (1894). "Notes on Sphingidae with Descriptions of New Species". Novitates Zoologicae. 1 (1): 92 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Oehlke, Bill (June 3, 2014). "Amphimoea walkeri The Darwin Hawkmoth (Boisduval, [1875])". Sphingidae of the Americas. Retrieved December 31, 2018.