Erinnyis ello

Erinnyis ello, the ello sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is distributed from Argentina through Central America to the United States as far north as Nevada.

Ello sphinx
Male - MHNT
Male underside - MHNT
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Sphingidae
Genus: Erinnyis
Species:
E. ello
Binomial name
Erinnyis ello
Synonyms
  • Sphinx ello Linnaeus, 1758
  • Erinnyis cinifera Zikán, 1934
  • Erinnyis ello omorfia (Mooser, 1942)

The wingspan is 75–85 mm. The abdomen has gray and black bands. The forewing upperside of the female is pale gray with a few dark dots near the outer margin, while the forewing upperside of the male is dark gray and brown with a black band running from the base to the tip. In both sexes, the hindwing upperside is orange with a wide black border.[2]

Adults are on wing year-round in the tropics and southern Florida. Adults feed on the nectar of flowers, including common soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) and Chinese violet (Asystasia gangetica).

The larva feeds on a variety of host plants, including papaya (Carica papaya) in the family Caricaceae; poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima), Mexican jumping bean (Sebastiania pavoniana),[3] Cnidoscolus urens, and cassava (Manihot esculenta) in the Euphorbiaceae; guavas (Psidium spp.) in the Myrtaceae; and saffron plum (Sideroxylon celastrinum) in the Sapotaceae.

The ello sphinx can be parasitized by the braconid wasp Microplitis figueresi.[3]

Subspecies

References

  1. "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-11-09. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
  2. "Erinnyis ello (Linnaeus, 1758) Ello Sphinx Moth". Silkmoths. Archived from the original on 2015-05-12. Retrieved 2011-10-19.
  3. Janzen, D. H.; Walker, A. K.; Whitfield, J. B.; Delvare, G.; Gauld, I. D. (April 2003). "Host-specificity and hyperparasitoids of three new Costa Rican species of Microplitis Foerster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae), parasitoids of sphingid caterpillars" (PDF). Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 12 (1): 51–72. ISSN 1070-9428. OCLC 815681518. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2018.


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