Eyed hawk-moth
The eyed hawk-moth looks like a piece of brown tree bark when it rests. But if a bird bothers it, it suddenly shows two big blue eyes on its back wings. The surprised bird often gets a fright, and the moth escapes.
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Fun facts
The eye spots are hidden under the front wings until the moth needs them.
Its back wings are pink near the body, with a blue eye spot ringed in black.
The caterpillar can grow to about 8 centimetres long and has a blue-grey horn on its tail.
The caterpillar has seven white stripes on each side.
It spends the winter as a shiny brown pupa in the soil and comes out in May or June.
Most asked questions about Eyed hawk-moth
?Why does the eyed hawk-moth have eyes on its wings?
They are fake eyes. When it flashes them, birds get a scare and the moth can escape.
?What does the eyed hawk-moth caterpillar eat?
Leaves of willow, poplar and apple trees.
?How big is the eyed hawk-moth?
Its wings are 7 to 8 centimetres from tip to tip.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Smerinthus ocellatus
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Sphingidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Sphingidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa
Where the facts come from
- Smerinthus ocellatus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Ivar Leidus. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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