Agrius cingulata
Agrius cingulatus
Agrius cingulatus is a butterfly (moth ) from the family of moth ( Sphingidae ).
- 5.1 Notes and references
- 5.2 Literature
Features
The moths reach forewing length 42-48 mm. They have light and dark colored gray upper wing. As the only North American Schwärmerart they have pink colored hind wings and alternating pink and black transverse bands on the abdomen. The pink color is somewhat variable, the drawing is not.
The caterpillars have the typical physique of fanatics in the last stage. Your Analhorn is curved and sharply backwards. Tracked come in three colors, two green, one brown, on. The green caterpillars lack the Sekundärbeborstung. They have a smooth body surface, wear seven pairs of Dorsolateralstreifen and have conspicuous spiracles. The green form has wide brown colored spiracles, which are black margins and again highlighted white. The other form has a slightly paler color and is only weakly patterned. To the abdominal legs, the animals are more or less spotted brown. The brown form has a pale beige color with a pronounced dark chocolate brown markings. You like the green shapes Dorsolateralstreifen and bright colored stigmas. All three forms carry prominent stripes on the head capsule.
The pupa is light brown to yellowish brown and has a smooth, glossy surface. Your proboscis sheath is exposed and is rolled back characteristic. The cremaster is black, distinctly triangular and rough. It ends in a double peak.
Occurrence
The species is distributed mainly neotropisch and occurs in South and Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico. But they are also found in Florida, the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas and southeastern Arizona. Further north is unclear whether it is for detections is vagrants or permanently sedentary animals, since the moths invited to do long flights, but propagate everywhere. They fly north one to the south of Canada.
Way of life
The adults are active for some time after dark. They have been tested on a large number of different flower nectar eyes. These are Pink Catharanthe ( Catharanthus roseus), Ipomoea alba, petunia ( Petunia ), hook lily ( Crinum ), Common soapwort ( Saponaria officinalis) and tobacco ( Nicotiana ). The moths are also strongly attracted by artificial light sources.
Flight times and caterpillars
The moths fly in southeast Arizona in a generation that occurs during the summer rainy season. In the Rio Grande Valley the way flies in two generations in spring ( April ) and autumn ( October, November). In Louisiana, the species is detected throughout the year, but is most common between May and November. Similarly, the animals fly in Florida, but it is unclear how many generations have been trained each year.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed exclusively on wind plants ( Convolvulaceae ) from which they most commonly eat morning glory (Ipomoea ). At sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas ) the type occasionally occurs as a pest.
Development
The females lay their eggs singly on the leaves of the food plants. The caterpillars are solitary and hold off on the undersides of leaves on. Pupation takes place deep in a burrow in the ground.