Lime Hawk Moth on my Mums finger
Yesterday at my Nana's my little brother just missed treading on a moth on the floor. It was the strangest moth I have ever seen so I photographed it and then googled what it was. It is a Lime hawk moth !
The Lime Hawk Moth has a wing span of 20 - 80mm. The males and females vary in colour with males being pink to olive green and females, pink to reddish brown. It is characterised by blotches or a band of olive green across the forewings. This band of colour in combination with the forward position of the hindwings when resting, disrupt the typical outline of the moth, that predators of moths look for when they are hunting their prey.
The Lime Hawk Moth flies from May to July and in the day can be found resting on walls and trees . Caterpillars of the Lime Hawkmoth feed on limes, elms, birches and Alder, and have a slightly curved bluish horn at the tail end. They are active from June to September and you might spot full-grown caterpillars crawling down tree trunks in parks and on city limes when they go in search of a pupation site. At this stage the body changes in colour from yellowish-green to a dull purplish colour. The Lime Hawk-moth
overwinters as a pupa, usually buried just below the ground, close to the foodplant.
Learn more about Butterflies and Moths here : http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/
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