GB: Bat Hawkmoth, F: Sphinx Cendré, D: Fledermausschwärmer, H: denevérszender
Sphinx vespertilio Esper, 1780, Schmetterlinge 2: 178.Type locality: Verona, northern Italy.
Holarctic; western Palaearctic region. Pleistocene refuge: Poly/monocentric -- Adriatomediterranean and Pontomediterranean subsections of the Mediterranean refuge.
Wingspan: 60--80mm. Forewing almost uniform slate-grey; hindwing reddish pink, with indistinct dark markings, which distinguish H. vespertilio from other species of Hyles. A certain amount of variation is exhibited: in f. salmonea Oberthür, no red on hindwing; in f. flava Black, hindwing yellow.
Unlike many members of this genus, H. vespertilio is not migratory and occurs in local, independent colonies up to 1700m in central Europe, but at higher altitudes in Asia Minor. Frequents warm, dry valleys, especially on well-drained, sunny, south-facing, gravel slopes where dry stream-channels are present. Shingle river-banks are a favourite haunt.
Whilst closely resembling H. euphorbiae in its feeding, copulating and activity behaviour, adults rest mostly on the ground, usually amongst rocks and pebbles (in a river-bed, for instance), with which their coloration blends.
Over most of its range, May/June, with a partial second generation in August/September; at higher altitudes in central Europe and Bulgaria (Ganev, 1984) only one emergence occurs, during June/July.
OVUM: Oval, slightly dorso-ventrally flattened (1.1 x 1.0mm), pale, glossy green. Laid singly or in pairs on the stems, leaves and flower-shoots of Epilobium, often with up to ten to a plant. Very occasionally found on stones next to a potential hostplant.
LARVA: Full-fed, 70--80mm.
The newly hatched larva is greenish-yellow, 3--4mm-long, with several longitudinal rows of fine black spots. With feeding the yellow is rapidly replaced by apple-green, upon which yellowish-white dorso-lateral and ventro-lateral lines appear, with the former being much more pronounced. There is no horn, or only a small tubercle where the horn would normally be.
In the second instar the pale longitudinal lines become creamy-yellow, with the green areas between them bearing numerous fine yellow dots, especially laterally. These are even more pronounced in the third instar, especially in the less common dark olive-green form. Both the dorso-lateral and ventro-lateral lines may be interupted on each segment by an orange spot; this is especially so in the dark form, where the basic olive-green colour gradually changes to dark brown.
When small, it feeds by day from beneath the leaf on which it rests, rarely leaving the hostplant until the fourth instar. At this stage the primary colour has become greyish-brown, with a dorso-lateral line of greyish-yellow, orange-centred eye-spots. Large numbers of small, brown spots now cover the darker dorsal surface. The paler sides, between the dorso-lateral and ventro-lateral lines, bear numerous whitish-yellow spots and the ventral surface, legs, anal flap and head are dull pink. It now feeds only at night, hiding by day on the ground amongst small stones at the base of the hostplant. Many curl up in an excellent imitation of a pebble. When full grown in the final instar, the eye-spots and primary body colour are pale greyish-brown; very little change occurs in this grey coloration prior to pupation.
Most commonly found during June, July and September, often in considerable numbers over a small area; however, up to 80% of these may be parasitized by tachinid flies (Schweizerischer Bund für Naturschutz, 1997).
Major Hostplants. Epilobium spp., especially E. dodonaei (formally known as Chamaenerion angustissimum/Epilobium rosmarinifolium).
Minor Hostplants. Oenothera spp. and, occasionally, Galium spp.
It should be noted that in the French Alps natural hybrids between this species and H. hippophaes are regularly found on Epilobium dodonaei, with many larvae being of the pink form (J.-M. Bompar (pers. comm.)).
PUPA 35--40mm. Pale reddish brown with translucent green-brown wings. In shape, almost identical to that of H. euphorbiae. Contained in a fine-meshed, silk cocoon amongst debris on the ground. Overwinters as a pupa.
Tachinidae: Masicera sphingivora (Robineau-Desvoidy).
Southern and eastern France (Herbulot, 1971; Rougeot & Viette, 1978), southern Germany (Forster & Wohlfahrt, 1960), Switzerland (Schweizerischer Bund für Naturschutz, 1997), Austria, northern and central Italy (Marini & Trentini, 1986; Storace, 1993; Dapporto, Fiorini, Fiumi & Flamigni, 2005), the Czech Republic (Suhaj & Hudecek, 1997), Slovakia, eastern Poland, western Ukraine (Danner, Eitschberger & Surholt, 1998), western Hungary (Sáfián & Hadarics, 2005), western Yugoslavia (Andus, 1986), western and southern Bulgaria (Ganev, 1984), and northern Greece. Also, western Turkey eastward to Transcaucasia (Milyanovskii, 1959). A small disjunct population also occurs in the mountains of Lebanon (Pittaway, 1993).
May now be extinct in Germany (Danner, Eitschberger & Surholt, 1998).
On 4 September 2003 an adult was recorded from Scalloway on the Shetland Islands, Scotland, during a period of southeasterly winds (Walterson, 2003). A perfect adult of Daphnis nerii was also recorded from these islands ten days later after further southerly winds, along with several other migrant moths.
Extra-limital range. None. Endemic to the western Palaearctic region.
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