which hawkmoth is this caterpillar please, it needs feeding!

[marigold]

Which hawkmoth caterpillar is this please, it needs feeding asap! It just turned-up in a consignment of plants from Holland on Wednesday. Thanks.

[Dave McCormick]

I could be wrong, but it might be a Striped Hawk-moth Hyles livornica: http://www.ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=3797

[Mikhail]

Definitely a Striped Hawkmoth. Feeds on Fuchsia, Bedstraw, Dock etc. Looks pretty well fully grown. Give it some earth to bury into in case it's ready to pupate.

Misha

[marigold]

Thanks to you both for the ident, I tried it on fuchsia but it wasn't interested yesterday. I'll see if I can find some galium today. It does look rather splendid!

[Neil Hulme]

Hi marigold,
As Mikhail has spotted, this Striped Hawkmoth caterpillar wants to pupate - not eat. It is imperative that it is given the opportunity to bury itself in a tray of loose soil, about 6" deep. It sometimes helps if the soil is very slightly moist at one end of the tray, giving the caterpillar a choice of conditions to help it decide where to start burying itself. If it is denied this opportunity it will die.
Neil

[marigold]

Thanks Neil, I did exactly that yesterday morning, and by the time I got home from work, it had nearly buried itself! How could you tell that it was ready to pupate, and how long will it take before it hatches?

[Cotswold Cockney]

I have occasionally come across fully grown Hawk Moth Larvae wandering away from their foodplant looking for a suitable pupation sight. I've seen Lime Hawks crawling down the main trunk of mature ornamental Cherry Trees near Cheltenham Town centre, Eyed and Poplar Hawks walking along pavements in Cities and even fully grown Elephant Hawk Larvae far from the nearest willow Herb clump on a nearby railway embankment. In each case I collected the larvae and placed each in a plastic tub ~ the kind used by supermarkets for spreads and butter ~ cleaned up and lined with tissue paper ~ then checked after a couple of days to see if the larva has changed colour, shape and settled down in the tissue obviously ready to pupate. Some Hawk Moth larvae when about to pupate lose a lot of clear fluid and the tissue will absorb that. The Death's Head Hawk loses a lot and the tissue can be soaked after a couple of days. If the tissue is damp, I renew it with fresh with minimal disturbance to the larva at this imnportant time.

It worked well with 100% success. Fine moths emerging the following spring. When I bred a large number of Death's Heads continuously ( warning ~ a lot of hard work ) the tissue lined plastic butter tubs worked a treat when larvae started wandering off the Privet changing colour ready to pupate. I bred quite a few back in the early 1980s, they do well on Privet and readily pair in capativity. This fine and powerful moth has a superb ability to hover in a confined space such as the breeding cages I use which are about one cubic metre in capacity. These large larvae are hard work to keep feeding them with ample fresh privet to keep the stock healthy and I discontinued them after three years. The following summer, my then very small son noticed and drew my attention to a "Large Moth" on the OUTSIDE of one of my large breeding cages in the greenhouse. When I checked I did not expect to find a freshly emerged female Death's Head Hawk. Quite the largest I had ever seen or bred. It had escaped as a larva from my breeding stock the previous season and later, when clearing/repotting some of my growing foodplants, I discovered the empty pupal case in the compost of one of my large plant pots. The pupa has overwintered successfully. My Greenhouse is never heated ~ indeed in cold winters I've recorded very low winter temperatures. Indeed, -22 Degress Centigrade during IIRC the winter or 1981-2. I thus suspect that under favourable conditions, this magnificent moth can overwinter successfully in the wild here in the UK and not necessarily during mild winters.

This Hawk moth has an unusual probosis unlike any other moth found in the British Isles. Also, be careful when picking one up as there are two very sharp 'needle' processes each side of the thorax near the wing bases. They can hurt. What of that short, thick stubby probosis? Watching one of the many fine Natural History programmes on BBC more recently, this one was on social insects some years ago with David Attenborough's commentary. It showed the world's largest 'Honey Bee ' which makes huge nests high in the tree branches or on cliff faces etc. The nest is simply thousands, maybe millions of these huge bees covering the honeycombs suspended from the high branches and cliff faces. Local folks risk danger from falling and powerful stings when they raid the nests for the honey. The TV footage also showed at night, the occasional Death's Head Hawk Moth powerfully alighting on the mass of huge bees, quickly diving in between them and emerging sometime later no doubt having raided some of the honey stores. Remarkable footage considering the darkness and the nests at great heights above the ground.

When I bred those Hawks, I had no idea what that unuausal proboscis was for. Now I know. Used to access the honey by penetrating the wax cells in the Bees' nests. Back then, I fed the adults manually on diluted honey and they would lap it up. Good feeding of both larvae ( very important ) and adults is essential to maintain a healthy captive stock. Unknowingly, I was on the right track with the honey I fed them all those years ago .....

P.S.

Oh yes, when I was a boy there were thousands of large Elm Trees all over the contryside. Some of these trees were massive. One huge specimen Elm had a Kestrel's nest used every year located high up in a flat area where many years before, a large branch had broken off. Ideal nest site for this fine Falcon. When I climbed up to the nest, I disturbed a sheet of loose bark about a yard ABOVE the soil surface. Under that loose bark were several Lime Hawk Pupae ...... I took my father along to see the nest. When he saw how high i had climbed that tree, he farbid me to ever climb up there again. You do not see these dangers when only twelve... Well, I didn't ...