Bob Cumming's Gallery

Elephant Hawk Moth (Ref 0073)
© Bob Cumming

The Elephant Hawk Moth (Deilephila elpenor) is a large hawk moth, with a wing span typically between 50 and 70 mm. It is spectacularly coloured, seeming to shimmer with green and red when in motion. The larva is about 75mm long, green and brown in colour, and like most hawk moth caterpillars, having a backward curving spine or "horn" on the final segment. It has a trunk-like snout, and it is the elephant look, rather than its large size, that gives the moth its name. When startled, it draws its trunk into its foremost segment, which then looks like a large head with four large eye-like patches.

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