Lime hawk-moth
The lime hawk-moth is a big moth with pinkish or brownish wings and dark green blotches in the middle. Its wing edges are wavy, which helps it hide among leaves. Its caterpillar is bright green with a little blue horn at the back end.
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Fun facts
Males are usually green and females brown, but there are lots of exceptions.
It flies at night in May and June and is drawn to lights.
When the caterpillar is ready to change, it turns purple-grey and wanders off to find a good spot.
It spends the winter as a pupa in the soil at the foot of its tree.
A female comes out of her pupa with her eggs already inside, ready to lay.
Most asked questions about Lime hawk-moth
?What does a lime hawk-moth eat?
The moth itself does not eat. Its caterpillar eats leaves, mostly from lime trees.
?How big is a lime hawk-moth?
Its wings are 7 to 8 centimetres from tip to tip.
?Is the lime hawk-moth caterpillar dangerous?
No. The horn on its back end is soft and harmless.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Mimas tiliae
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Sphingidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Sphingidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Mimas tiliae (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 en:user:Emanresu. Public domain, 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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