Cheshire
Macro-Moths - Elephant Hawk-moth
The
Elephant Hawk-moth - Deilephila elpenor Linnaeus
Imago / Adult:
The adult moth (imago) varies between 62 and 72 mm wingspan.
The ground colour is a bright cerise pink with greenish to khaki markings
on the wings and body - (I often feel that this animal represents
the archetype for the 'pink elephants' supposedly so often seen by
people when drunk!). It is an resident moth which is usually single
brooded in Britain but which can in long, warm summers produce a partial
second brood. Its main brood flies from mid-May through to the end
of July, with any second brood taking the flight period through until
the end of August. This moth is widely distributed in Cheshire and
is the commonest hawk-moth in the County, although if the records
were based purely upon larval sightings it would never have reached
such a local status.
Larva:
The larvae are large, usually 80 to 85 millimetres in
length. The ground colouration of the body is usually brown though
a green form is also known to occur. Both the green and brown forms
have the ground colouration heavily speckled with grey and have distinctive
black and pink eye spots on the fourth and fifth body segments. The
larval horn is small and black with a white tip.
Foodplant(s):
The larvae usually feed from July through to September
on a variety of willowherbs, especially Rosebay Willowherb but can
be found less commonly on bedstraws, garden fuschia and bog-bean.
Overwintering:
The moth overwinters as a pupa/chrysalis in the ground beneath
its foodplant. However, this caterpillar will often wander far from
its foodplant to find a suitable pupation site.