Updated as per AN ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF THE SPHINGIDAE OF BOLIVIA, October 2007
Updated as per personal communication with Vladimir Izersky (Junin, Peru, January, 662m) December 22, 2008
Updated as per personal communication with Jose Monzon (Guatemala); May 2009
Updated as per CATE Sphingidae (description; Mexico, Belize, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil); May 20, 2011
Updated as per personal communication with Joao Amarildo Ranguetti (Massaranduba, Santa Catarina, Brazil, December 14, 2017); March 29, 2018

Enyo cavifer cavifer
(Rothschild and Jordan, 1903)

Enyo cavifer, Massaranduba, Santa Catarina, Brazil,
December 14, 2017, courtesy of Joao Amarildo Ranguetti.

TAXONOMY:

Family: Sphingidae, Latreille, 1802
Subfamily: Macroglossinae, Harris, 1839
Tribe: Dilophonotini, Burmeister, 1878
Genus: Enyo Hubner, [1819] ...........
Species: cavifer cavifer Rothschild & Jordan, 1903

DISTRIBUTION:

Enyo cavifer cavifer (Wing span: approx. 60-62 mm) flies from Central America (Mexico andBelize south) to
Guatemala (JM);
Costa Rica;
Venezuela;
French Guiana: Rt to Kaw;
Brazil: Santa Catarina; widespread;
Peru: Junin (662m): Chanchamayo; and
Bolivia: La Paz: Murillo, Río Zongo (750m).
Colombia is the specimen type locality; Boyaca: Muzo; Chaco.

I suspect it also flies in Suriname and Guyana.

In both sexes the forewing apex is truncated as opposed to sinuate as in Enyo gorgon. Ground colour is chocolate-brown, almost black in some places. The forewing discal cell is narrower than in either Enyo gorgon or in Enyo taedium taedium.

FLIGHT TIMES:

Enyo cavifer cavifer probably has two to three broods annually, with adults taken in Costa Rica from May to June, August to September and from December to January.

Bruno Penin reports a February flight in French Guiana.

Vladimir Izersky reports them on the wing in Junin, Peru, in January.

Enyo cavifer male, Coviriali, Junin, Peru,
January 7, 2008, 662m, courtesy of Vladimir Izersky.

ECLOSION:

Adults eclose from pupae formed in subterranean chambers.

Enyo cavifer cavifer male courtesy of Dan Janzen.

SCENTING AND MATING:

Females call in the males with a pheromone released from a gland at the tip of the abdomen. Both males and females nectar at flowers. Females are seldom taken at lights while males are more common.

Enyo cavifer cavifer female courtesy of Dan Janzen.

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

EGGS, LARVAE, PUPAE:

Larvae feed on Cissus aff. biformifolia, Vitus tiliifolia and other members of the Vitaceae family.

This one was "caught in the act."

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