Pandora Sphinx Moth Photography by Kozmic Dreams

My Digital Photography of

the Pandora Sphinx Moth

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Pandora Sphinx Moth, Eumorpha Pandorus

On October 8, 2007, one of my students surprised me with this beautiful moth. She had initially taken it to her biology class in the morning, but she told me about it during my algebra class after lunch and said she would stop by to show me after school. To my surprise, she said I could take it home to photograph. I was so happy because I've never seen this kind of moth in this area and it was an extraordinary specimen. I thought it had a face a lot like a hawk moth that I previously photographed, so that's where I started my research. Turns out they're in the same family, Sphingidae. It's also sometimes called the Pandorus Sphinx, but I like Pandora because it reminds me of the story of Pandora's box.

I do believe this one is a female because her antenna are too narrow to be a male's. Male moths have to have receptors for the female's pheremones so that's why they have antenna with lots of additional "hairs". Males fly into the wind to find females in this way. I photographed this moth on a plant (not sure what species) and my woodburned door, my most extensive woodburned creation.