Hyles gallii larva, near Wasilla, Alaska; 61d37m north, 149d23m49s west;
feeding on fireweed; September 18, 2011; Carl Seutter

Carl writes, (September 18, 2011):

"My daughters found a caterpillar in our yard that looked like a black version of a tobacco hornworm, and we used your webpage to identify it as a Hyles gallii larva. They are wanting to keep it to see it turn into a moth. Do they hibernate in the pupal stage all winter?"

I reply,

"HI Carl, Based on my rearings of that species here on PEI in eastern Canada, out of about 95 larvae that I reared, five emerged within 2-3 weeks after pupation, the rest overwintered in pupal stage, but I put pupae into cold storage in October. I do not know where you are located or when you obtained the pupa, but my guess is it will most likely remain in pupal stage until late next spring or early summer if kept cool. If you keep it at room temperature, it might emerge in January-February. If you took a digital photo and would not mind me posting it to a website, with data (date and location) I would like to do so."

Carl responds, "It’s not a pupa yet, it’s still a hungry hornworm. It was found Sunday 9/18/11 near Wasilla, Alaska. 61d37m north, 149d23m49s west. It’s currently low 50sF day and upper 30sF night. It was found on a walkway between the house and garage. The fireweed on the south side is still green and has chunks missing from the leaves. I’ve found pupae in the flower beds on the south facing side of the house a few times. I do not recall ever seeing an adult of the genus up here. I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention. I’ll try to get a shot of it on the fireweed it had been eating when it’s light tomorrow and send it to you. We have it in a habitat right now with fresh fireweed leaves slightly damp from today’s rain."

"Thanks Carl, I will add the sighting, and hopefully an image, to my data base and will post to a web page."

This site has been created by Bill Oehlke.
Comments, suggestions and/or additional information/sightings are welcomed by Bill.

TAXONOMY: Family: Sphingidae Subfamily: Macroglossinae Genus: Hyles (Hubner, 1819) was Sphinx........... Species: gallii (Rottenburg, 1775)

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