Hyles sammuti

Hyles sammuti is a moth of the family Sphingidae. Kitching and Cadiou (2000) treat it as a valid species,[2] while Pittaway treats it as a subspecies of Hyles tithymali, seeing the larvae are very similar to Hyles tithymali mauretanica. Based on studies of the mitochondrial DNA, Hyles sammuti probably hybridises with Hyles euphorbiae.[3] It is known from Malta, but there are closely related populations found on Sicily and southern Italy, which might prove to be the same species.

Hyles sammuti
Female
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Sphingidae
Genus: Hyles
Species:
H. sammuti
Binomial name
Hyles sammuti
Eitschberger, Danner & Surholt, 1998[1]
Synonyms
  • Hyles tithymali sammuti

The wingspan is 63–75 mm. There are multiple generations per year with adults on wing from February to October.

The larvae feed on Euphorbia spinosa, Euphorbia pinea and Euphorbia dendroides. The species overwinters as a pupa.

References
  1. "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
  2. Ian J. Kitching, Jean-Marie Cadiou: Hawkmoths of the World. An Annotated and Illustrated Revisionary Checklist (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). Cornell University Press, New York 2000, ISBN 0-8014-3734-2
  3. Anna K. Hundsdoerfer, Ian J. Kitching, Michael Wink: "A molecular phylogeny of the hawkmoth genus Hyles (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae, Macroglossinae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35 (2005): S. 442–458


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