Daphnis nerii or Oleander Hawk-moth is a member of the Sphingidae family, whose members are commonly known as the hummingbird, sphinx or hawk moths. This beautiful and attractive species has a wingspan of 8-12 cm. Its forewings are intricately patterned in gorgeous shades of olive green and marked with small blotches of pink and white, including a pale white apical band on each forewing. The hindwings, on the other hand, are greyish green, with a pale white wavy line. Body is mostly olive green too, with white markings and measures about 5 cm from head to tail.
I found this fine specimen at the yesterday evening. moth was quite friendly and did not get alarmed by my photography. I had a opportunity to try macro panorama on this which I will post in the next blog post.
Nice attempt here, macro stitching! I had seen the landscape photos stitch this kind first time for me. thank you for sharing
I love to take credit for being inventor of this great art of macro panorama 😉 Alas, there are quite few pioneers out there who have done it much before me and have excelled in it. I agree it is not as common as Landscape Panos & HDRs which go to crazy extremes. Earlier it was quite difficult to stich unless you have aligned all the photos and angled the capture well. It has become quite easy now with CS4, soon you might see lot of macro panos around.
-Krishna Mohan
Thank you so much for publishing your photo. This moth appears to be the same kind of moth I have just photographed on my phone camera. I live at 3600 ft. elevation on a mountain in east Tennessee, USA. IF what I have is an Oleander Hawk moth, it is NOT supposed to be here! All I can find online is that it is indigenous to India and migrates to Europe. We are FAR out of that range! I heard it fluttering loudly late at night (after midnight) near my bed and woke to find it on the window jamb. It is the same size as described for the Oleander Hawk moth, body approximately 4.8 mm head to tail. I have not opened it’s wings. Folded the wings measure 7 mm from tip to tip.
This is fascinating to me, and I will do further research. When I find out how to post the picture from my phone I would be proud to email you a copy for reference. Thank you again for your lovely photograph. This is indeed a very interesting and lovely creature!
Ellie Hjemmet
in the beautiful mountains of East Tennessee USA
Hi i am from Toronto,Ontario Canada
I took a picture of one in my back yard July 27 2011.
It was about the size of my hand.
lime green and looks just like the picture.
In the beautiful beaches of Toronto.
I dont think this moth is suppose to be here either. But it is.
What a wonderful moth.
Dear Lorraine,
Thanks for visiting my site. Oleander hawk Moth does not exist in Canada, but there are other hawk moths which are similar to this. Check out this nice site on moths of Canada. Here is the link for the Bombycoidea Family of moths from Canada http://www.cbif.gc.ca/spp_pages/misc_moths/phps/bom_e.php
Keep coming back
Regards
Krishna mohan
Dear Ellie Hjemmet,
I have read a lot about Great Valley and I wish to visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Cherokee National Forest at least once in my life time. Good to hear from somebody so far off. You may not have Oleander Hawk moth there but cousins of that moth do exist in your region. Check this web page for extensive list of hawk moths of USA – http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy/Sphingidae
Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting. Keep coming back
Regards
Krishna mohan
Thanks for your kind response and the helpful link! My Peterson Guide to Insects does NOT have this moth! Nor two other smaller books I own. I did get in touch with an entymologist who had spoken at a Wildlife event I attended here at the beautiful Roan Mountain State Park. He linked me to great photos of Eumorpha Pandorus… which was indeed the very moth I had. My concern was not to keep it so long in the house that it died! SO my heart was happy when I could set her free! The variety does indeed seem to be a very close cousin! No “eye spots” on the upper wings. I was amazed to see how the wing pattern on my moth was identical to photos of the Pandora Sphynx. When I found YOUR lovely photographs I thought there was variation in moth patterns as we see in snake pattern, but apparently NOT! Thanks again. I love your photographs. It was a fun journey of learning!
With all best wishes,
Ellie Hjemmet
Dear mister Mohan, it is with great interest that I have discovered your useful documentation and pictures of the
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151794051749752.1073741825.782049751&type=1&l=b8908e47f8
We in our laboratory reared the moth from larva to adult. It was found in November 2015