Poplar Hawk-moth
Laothoe populi
Print fact sheet (PDF)
Rests with its hindwings pushed out in front of the forewings — no other moth here sits like that.
A large grey-brown hawk-moth with scalloped wing edges, patterned to look exactly like a dead leaf or a piece of bark. The posture is diagnostic: at rest it holds its hindwings forward of the forewings, giving an odd, lopsided, distinctly un-mothlike outline. It is one of the commonest hawk-moths in Dumfries gardens and along the river where poplars, aspen and willow grow.
Behaviour
Disturbed, it jerks its wings forward to flash a rust-red patch on the hindwing, then goes still again — a small shock designed to make a bird hesitate. Adults do not feed at all; they have no functional proboscis and live only long enough to breed. The caterpillar is a smooth apple-green with a pale diagonal stripe and a small yellow horn at the tail.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Hawk-moths (Sphingidae)
- Wingspan
- 6.5–9 cm
- Status
- Native; common and widespread
Photo by Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons