Common names: Astarte Eyed Sphinx

Ecology and Life History:
The moth is typically active from March to August depending on local temperatures. Most places in its range will see the adults active from May to August. Like other Smerinthinae, this species is highly attracted to light. Setting up a light in the right area can yield many adults. This species is not sexually dimorphic, though the females tend to be larger in size than the males. Eggs are laid on the leaves of the host.
Habitat and Searching for Larvae: {COMING SOON}

Rearing Notes:
Obtaining eggs of this species is straightforward as females lay readily in paper bags. Alternatively you can offer sprigs of host in a screen cage. Like other Smerinthus species in the US, this species feeds on Salix and Populus seemingly exclusively. Though it doesn’t seem to be very picky about which species. This species does poorly when raised in crowded conditions. They will succumb to disease and die. This is usually a byproduct of their being too much humidity, as such, I recommend rearing them in screen cages or sleeves. Pupation occurs via the paper towel method, or by allowing larvae to bury into an appropriate medium.

Adult Description
This is a medium sized Sphingidae, with a wingspan of around 80mm. The forewings are gray to gray-brown and appear smooth overall. The hindwings are similar to Smerinthus cerisyi, which only coexists in the very eastern most part of the range of this species. In Smerinthus astarte, the blue marking on the hindwing is split by a black band that points downward, rather than being a circular or diamond shaped mark as in S. cerisyi.

Larval Description
L1: Small, green, with small red horn.
L3: Larva typically pale green with white subdorsal streak and ample white granulose speckling. The head is clefted, with red tips.
L5: Larva green to pale green with a white subdorsal streak. The larva appears smooth. There is a thick white lateral line from the bluish horn through abdominal segment 9. The remaining lateral abdominal lines may be absent or faint.


Hostplants:

Click here to load this Caspio Cloud Database

Cloud Database by Caspio

(C) Teá Montagna

(C) Dave Eslinger (from iNaturalist)

The gallery to the left contains photos of Smerinthus astarte adults. If you have a photo that you would like to submit to us, please contact us.

The gallery to the right contains photos of Smerinthus astarte larval and pupal stages. If you have a photo that you would like to submit to us, please contact us.