Pachysphinx modesta

Pachysphinx modesta, the modest sphinx or poplar sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Thaddeus William Harris in 1839.

Modest sphinx
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Genus:	Pachysphinx
Species:	P. modesta
Binomial name
Pachysphinx modesta (Harris, 1839)[1]
Synonyms
Smerinthus modesta Harris, 1839 Smerinthus populicola Boisduval, 1875 Smerinthus princeps Walker, 1856 Smerinthus cablei von Reizenstein, 1881 Pachysphinx modesta borealis Clark, 1929

Gallery

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  Male, dorsal view
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  Male, ventral view
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  Female, dorsal view
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  Female, ventral view
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  Larva

Distribution

It ranges from the southern United States up and throughout Canada.^[2]

Biology

Adults are on wing from mid-June to mid-July in Canada. In the northern part of the range, there is one generation with adults on wing from may to July. Further south, there might be two generations per year.

The larvae feed on poplar, willow and cottonwood species.