Pen in Hand: White

Feb 02, 2024

This past week I had the delightful experience of walking up to some clumps of blooming lavender and germander plants and finding them twinkling with literally a couple of dozen White-lined Sphinx Moths.

These agile moths, also known as “hummingbird moths” because of their hovering resemblance to hummingbirds, fluttered their powerful wings as they gracefully drifted from flower to flower.

The Sphinx moths’ mahogany brown bodies and wings are tastefully and symmetrically striped with white markings, and the highlight of their pleasant color scheme is a pink stripe across their black hindwings. The moths are noticeable enough with their large two to three-inch wingspan and distinctive hovering flight pattern, but their pink wing pendant is immediate confirmation that White-lined Sphinx Moths are afield.

Moths tend to be nocturnal, and White-lined Sphinx Moths (Hyles lineata) do fly at night, but seem to be most active at the crespuscular twilight hours of dusk and dawn. They also fly during daylight hours, however, and you can occasionally encounter them at any time.

White-lined Sphinx Moths are members of the Sphingidae family of moths, which are commonly called sphinx moths or hawk moths. There are about 1,450 species in this family worldwide, with most them in the tropics, and 128 sphinx moth species in the U.S.

These tend to be large, robust-bodied moths, and so naturally they typically originate as large, robust-bodied caterpillars. These are commonly referred to as hornworms for the flexible spine or horn at the hind end of the caterpillar.

Among these hornworms are the Tomato Hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata) and Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta) that annoyed gardeners often find chewing on their tomato plants. These caterpillars also turn into large sphinx moths, but not into White-lined Sphinx Moths.

The larvae or caterpillars of White-lined Sphinx Moths show great variation, with about four different distinct forms described as green, green-black, black and yellow-black. I was out in the Mojave Desert this spring, leading a hike at Red Rock Canyon State Park, and I saw countless numbers of White-lined Sphinx Moth caterpillars in the black form, marked with thin continuous or dotted yellow lines, like a freshly paved asphalt road with yellow lane markings.

Found throughout the United States, the White-lined Sphinx Moth’s success is partly due to their generalist feeding habits: while many caterpillars require specific host plants, Hyles Lineata can successfully grow on wild grapes, evening primrose, purslane and many others.

Once they reach full size, the sphinx moth caterpillars crawl down to the ground and burrow a couple of inches into loose soil. Then they form a brown capsule or pupae, and may overwinter in this cozy sleeping bag.

When they emerge in the spring, they are no longer hornworms, of course, but have transformed into the beautiful adult moths, furry and elegantly marked with brown, tan and white with their pink and black accents.

If you are able to closely observe White-lined Sphinx Moths nectar-feeding on a quiet late afternoon or evening, you can see their long proboscis, extending like a drinking straw into the center of flowers for a sip of nectar.

You can also hear the soft fluttering of their flannel wings. It is not the buzzing of a bumblebee, or the metallic whizzing of a hummingbird, but a muted whirring, gentle and almost inaudible as these lovely twilight creatures flit quietly from blossom to blossom. . .

Have a good week.

Jon Hammond has written for Tehachapi News for more than 40 years. Send email to [email protected].

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