Sphinx kalmiae

Sphinx kalmiae, the laurel sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae.

Laurel sphinx
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Genus:	Sphinx
Species:	S. kalmiae
Binomial name
Sphinx kalmiae J. E. Smith, 1797[1]

Distribution

It is found in the temperate parts of the United States and southern Canada east of the Great Plains, in the north it occurs west of the Rocky Mountains.

Description

The wingspan is 75–103 mm.

• 
  Male dorsal
• 
  Male ventral
• 
  Female dorsal
• 
  Female ventral

Biology

In Canada, there is one generation per year with adults on wing in June and July. More to the south, there are two generations per year with adults on wing from late May to June and again from July to August. There may be as many as six generations in Louisiana.

The larvae feed on Chionanthus, Kalmia, Syringa and Fraxinus species.

Taxonomy

English entomologist James Edward Smith named this moth after Kalmia, the plant on which its caterpillar was first observed. ^[2]