Western Australia MothsWA Moth Index Abantiades hydrographus Anomis definata Ardices glatignyi Austropaschia porrigens Ctenoplusia albostriata Hestiochora occidentalis Hippotion celerio (Vine Hawk Moth) Hippotion scrofa (Coprosma Hawk Moth) Myrtartona rufiventris Synemon spp
Hippotion celerio is a species of Hawk Moth, with a number of common names including Gabi Moth, Silver-striped Hawk-moth, Vine Hawk-moth, Grapevine Hawk Moth or Vine Hawk Moth. Hippotion celerio can sometimes be seen in the early morning, and like most species of hawk moths, they are seen at dusk and night.
This species has a wide distribution from Africa, southern Europe, southern Asia and across Australia. The moth and caterpillar pictured here are from Western Australia.
The caterpillar occurs in several colour forms, including green, brown, red or dark grey. It also usually has an eyespot on each side of the first and the second abdominal segments, with those on the first segment being larger in appearance. The caterpillar are know to grow up to a length of 8 cm.
The caterpillar will curl into the shape of a letter ‘C’ when disturbed, tuck its head under its thorax, expanding the segments with the eyespots (possibly to distract and deter predators).
When it is ready to pupate, it does it in a shelter on the ground, made from plant debris below the shrub/tree. The pupa is about 4.5 cm in length.
The adult moth is beautiful patterned with lines and stripes in browns, ochre, cream to white and dark brown to almost black. The hindwing is red with pinkish markings near its lower angle (tornus), being the rear corner of a wing, where the outer margin meets the inner margin. It has a wingspan of about 6 cm. There is some variation in the colouration and pattern of the adult moths.
The Hippotion celerio adult moth has a long tongue used to extract and feed on nectar from flowers (often while hovering in front of them).
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Informal: Pterygotes
- Order: Lepidoptera
- Unranked: Ditrysia
- Superfamily: Sphingoidea
- Family: Sphingidae
- Subfamily: Macroglossinae
- Genus: Hippotion
- Species: Hippotion celerio
Footnote & References
- Hippotion celerio, Photographs © Jean and Fred Hort
- Hippotion celerio (Linnaeus, 1758), Grapevine Hawk Moth, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/d9061bb7-6e32-4e47-bb5c-ebd6f1919ec0
- Vine Hawkmoth (Hippotion celerio), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/199458-Hippotion-celerio
Western Australia MothsWA Moth Index Abantiades hydrographus Anomis definata Ardices glatignyi Austropaschia porrigens Ctenoplusia albostriata Hestiochora occidentalis Hippotion celerio (Vine Hawk Moth) Hippotion scrofa (Coprosma Hawk Moth) Myrtartona rufiventris Synemon spp
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