Hawkmoths are Sphingidae and one of the most amazing insects to arrive at the purpose-built moth wall in REGUA’s garden at night. They are bulky and fly like nitro-fuelled rockets in what seems parabolas bashing themselves in the process coming to land under lamps. Lepidopterists say that they are guided by stars and perhaps they believe they have landed just by one of the billions out in the sky at night.
Curiously, wet evenings are best for the moth wall at REGUA, and it’s hard to see the stars at such times. These moths are important pollinating species for many tree species of the Atlantic Rainforest, but their preferences remain to be researched.
This is an example of Eumorpha labruscae and left Alan Martin author of REGUA publication, Guide to the Hawkmoths of Serra do Orgaos green with envy as he hasn’t seen it. Alan’s book says this is a widespread species and March was a good time to see it on the wall, so hopefully he will catch up with it on a future visit.
One of the two most common species of hawkmoth found at REGUA is Xylophanes porcus continentalis which is found from Central America to southern Brazil. At least that is what we thought until a new paper was recently published in the European Entomologist by Jean Haxaire and Carlos Mielke. Their paper describes two new species that occur in south and south-east Brazil, and suggests that the entire X. porcus family needs further investigation.
The species at REGUA is not X. p. continentalis but X. soaresi, named after Alexandre Soares of the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro and a co-author of A Guide to the Hawkmoths of the Serra dos Orgaos, South-eastern Brazil, which was published in 2011.
The second species which also occurs in the REGUA area, X. alineae, is smaller, less well-marked and has more rounded wings, and is generally found at higher altitudes.
A review of all the photos taken at REGUA and surrounding areas shows that all but one of our records (photographed in October 2016) was X. soaresi, but we need to look much harder in the future!
Since 2001 there have been 74 species of hawkmoth (Sphingidae) found at REGUA, from the 110 or so that have been recorded in the Serra dos Órgãos mountains. Arguably one of the nicest is Oryba kadeni which has a distinctive shape and colouring.
Widespread throughout Central and South America, this is this was my first sighting, though it has been recorded at REGUA twice before, once by Nicholas at his house and once by his father Robert Locke. To be more precise, Robert found the unmistakable wings of this moth by his front door, the remains of a meal for a large bat.