Smerinthini

Belongs within: Sphingidae.

The Smerinthini are a group of hawkmoths with a reduced proboscis in the imago. Adult moths hence do not feed. Larvae have a rough, finely tuberculate cuticle and developed horn (Pittaway 1993).

The type genus Smerinthus is Holarctic in distribution, and has fore wings with a dentate outer margin and brown or grey marbled patterns, and a blue and black ocellus in the hind wing anal angle (Pittaway 1993).

The sphinxes that aren’t like the others

Published 16 February 2009

Quick question—should the plural of “sphinx” be “sphinxes” or “sphinges”?

The sphinx moths or hawkmoths (Sphingidae) are one of the easiest lepidopteran families to recognise. Sphinxes tend to be fairly large (but not inordinately so) and are generally the speedsters of the moth world. Their rapid mobility is reflected in their wings, which are narrower, more streamlined and more pointed than those of other moth families. Sphinxes are not usually brightly-coloured but they are none the less very handsome animals, with dapper patterns of earthy colours such as browns and soft pinks. The name “sphinx” is derived from their caterpillars—sphinx caterpillars have a way of sitting with the front of the body raised that is supposed to be reminiscent of the famed Egyptian statue.

Adult sphinxes are most famed as nectar feeders—with their long proboscides and ability to hover in front of the flowers they feed on, Old World sphinx moths have been described as the ecological counterparts of New World hummingbirds (I won’t repeat the Xanthopan praedicta story here but look it up if you’re interested). One group of sphinxes, however, has decided to buck the trend. Sphinxes are divided into three subfamilies—Sphinginae, Macroglossinae and Smerinthinae. Smerinthinae are distinguished from the other two subfamilies because they lack the super-long proboscides. In at least one of the smerinthine tribes, Smerinthini, the adults are completely non-feeding (the subfamily as a whole is sometimes described as such, but the presence of pollen on proboscides of Ambulycini indicates that members of that tribe are still flower feeders—Beck et al. 2006). Adult Smerinthini are weaker fliers than other sphinx moths, and have less streamlined wings to match. Also, while caterpillars of other subfamilies tend to be fussy eaters, Smerinthini are relative gourmands, feeding on a wide range of host plants.

Sphingidae as a whole are regarded as good dispersers and European sphingid species tend to have wider ranges than moths of other families. However, a study of sphingid distributions in Indonesia found that, in line with their lower dispersal capabilities, smerinthine species showed a higher turnover between islands than members of the other two subfamilies (Beck et al. 2006). Smerinthini are mostly found in the Old World—only two species are found east of “Lydekker’s line” between the Moluccas and New Guinea, and a handful of species are found in Nearctic North America.

It is easy to imagine a connection between the distinctive smerinthine life cycle and their poor dispersive abilities. With their short-lived adults and polyphagous larvae, female Smerinthini have neither the freedom nor the need to invest a lot of time in seeking out suitable host plants for their eggs. What is more uncertain is whether the smerinthine life cycle is derived from a more typically sphingid ancestor. The Smerinthinae have been suggested to be the basalmost subfamily of Sphingidae and in some features they are more like members of closely-related families than other sphingids—their short proboscides (like Brahmaeidae) and preference for tannin-bearing trees over tannin-free shrubs (like Saturniidae). On the other hand, a genetic analysis by Regier et al. (2001) found support for a Sphinginae-Smerinthini clade excluding Macroglossinae. Mind you, Regier et al.‘s analysis did not include representatives from the other smerinthine tribes.

Oh yes, and at least some Smerinthini have stridulatory apparatuses on their genital valves (Conner 1999). These are singing moths.

Systematics of Smerinthini

Characters (from Pittaway 1993, as Smerinthina): Proboscis usually short and non-functional. Terminal antennal segment short with small or large setae. Fore wing usually with undulate or serrate margin; frenulum sometimes reduced. Larva with head large, usually pyramidal. Pupa with anterior end blunt.

<==Smerinthini [Smerinthina]
    |--Amplypterus panopusAJ05
    |--Daphnusa ocellarisAJ05
    |--Pachysphinx modesta (Harris 1839)P93
    |--Mimas Hübner 1819 [incl. Lucena Rambur 1840]P93
    |    |--*M. tiliae (Linnaeus 1758)P93 (see below for synonymy)
    |    `--M. christophi (Staudinger 1887)P93
    |--PaoniasRM01
    |    |--P. excaecatusRM01
    |    `--P. myopsRM01
    |--Marumba Moore 1882 [incl. Burrowsia Tutt 1902, Kayeia Tutt 1902, Sichia Tutt 1902]P93
    |    |--*M. dyras (Walker 1856) [=Smerinthus dyras]P93
    |    |--M. gaschkewitschiiP93
    |    |--M. jankowskiiP93
    |    |--M. maackiP93
    |    `--M. quercus (Denis & Schiffermüller 1775) (see below for synonymy)P93
    |--Laothoe Fabricius 1807 [incl. Amorpha Hübner 1806 (nom. inv.)]P93
    |    |--*L. populi (Linnaeus 1758) [=Sphinx populi]P93
    |    |    |--L. p. populi (see below for synonymy)P93
    |    |    `--L. p. populeti (Bienert 1870) (see below for synonymy)P93
    |    |--L. amurensis (Staudinger 1892) (see below for synonymy)P93
    |    |--L. austauti (Staudinger 1877) [=Smerinthus austauti, L. populi austauti; incl. S. poupillieri Bellier 1878]P93
    |    |--L. philerema (Djakonov 1923) [=Amorpha populi philerema, L. populi philerema]P93
    |    `--L. sinica (Rothschild & Jordan 1903) [=L. amurensis sinica]P93
    `--Smerinthus Latreille 1802 (see below for synonymy)P93
         |--*S. ocellatus (Linnaeus 1758) [=Sphinx ocellata]P93
         |    |--S. o. ocellatusP93 (see below for synonymy)
         |    `--S. o. atlanticus Austaut 1890 [incl. S. ocellata protai Speidel & Kaltenbach 1981]P93
         |--S. caecus Ménétriés 1857P93
         |--S. cerisyiRM01
         |--S. jamaicensis (Drury 1773)ONE03
         |--S. kindermanni Lederer 1853P93
         |    |--S. k. kindermanniP93
         |    |--S. k. meridionalis Gehlen 1931P93
         |    |--S. k. obsoletus Staudinger 1901P93
         |    `--S. k. orbatus Grum-Grshimailo 1890 [=S. kindermanni var. orbata]P93
         |--S. minorP93
         |--S. neriiR26
         |--S. planus Walker 1856P93
         |--S. populiR13
         |--S. quercusG20
         |--S. salicetiKP19
         `--S. tatarinoviiP01

Laothoe amurensis (Staudinger 1892) [=Smerinthus tremulae var. amurensis; incl. L. tremulae baltica Viĭdalep 1979, S. tremulae Boisduval 1828 non Sphinx tremulae Borkhausen 1793]^P93

Laothoe populi populeti (Bienert 1870) [=Smerinthus populeti; incl. S. populi var. populetorum Staundinger 1887, Amorpha populi syriaca Gehlen 1932]^P93

Laothoe populi populi (Linnaeus 1758) [incl. L. populi iberica Eitschberger, Danner & Surholt 1989, Amorpha populi intermedia Gehlen 1934, A. populi lappona Rangnow 1935, A. palustris Holle 1865, Sphinx tremulae Borkhausen 1793]^P93

Marumba quercus (Denis & Schiffermüller 1775) [=Sphinx quercus; incl. M. quercus mesopotamica Bang-Haas 1938, M. quercus schirasi Bang-Haas 1938]^P93

*Mimas tiliae (Linnaeus 1758)^P93 [=Sphinx tiliae^P93, Dilina tiliae^F92, Smerinthus tiliae^L02; incl. M. tiliae f. brunnea^P93, M. tiliae f. lutescens^P93, M. tiliae montana Daniel & Wolfsberger 1955^P93, M. tiliae f. obsoleta^P93, M. tiliae f. pallida^P93, M. tiliae f. transversa^P93, Papilio ulmi Lucas 1864^P93, M. tiliae f. virescens^P93]

Smerinthus Latreille 1802 [incl. Bebroptera Sodoffsky 1837, Bellia Tutt 1902 non Bate 1851, Bellinca Strand 1943, Copismerinthus Grote 1886, Daddia Tutt 1902, Dilina Dalman 1816, Eusmerinthus Grote 1877, Merinthus Meigen 1830]^P93

Smerinthus ocellatus ocellatus (Linnaeus 1758)^P93 [incl. Sm. ocellatus ocellatus f. albescens^P93, Sm. cinerescens Staudinger 1879^P93, Sm. ocellatus ocellatus f. flavescens^P93, Sm. ocellatus ocellatus f. ollivryi^P93, Sm. ocellatus ocellatus f. pallida^P93, Sm. ocellatus ocellatus f. rosea^P93, Sphinx salicis Hübner 1805^P93, Sm. salicis^R26, Sp. semipavo Retzius 1783^P93]

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[AJ05] Abang, F., & A. M. Jackson. 2005. A list of hawk-moths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) from Gunung Murud, Sarawak. Serangga 10 (1-2): 127–132.

Beck, J., I. J. Kitching & K. E. Linsenmair. 2006. Wallace’s line revisited: has vicariance or dispersal shaped the distribution of Malesian hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae)? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 89 (3): 455–468.

Conner, W. E. 1999. ‘Un chant d’appel amoureux’: acoustic communication in moths. Journal of Experimental Biology 202: 1711–1723.

[F92] Fan Z. 1992. Key to the Common Flies of China 2^nd ed. Science Press: Beijing.

[G20] Goldfuss, G. A. 1820. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie pt 1. Johann Leonhard Schrag: Nürnberg.

[KP19] Kawahara, A. Y., D. Plotkin, M. Espeland, K. Meusemann, E. F. A. Toussaint, A. Donath, F. Gimnich, P. B. Frandsen, A. Zwick, M. dos Reis, J. R. Barber, R. S. Peters, S. Liu, X. Zhou, C. Mayer, L. Podsiadlowski, C. Storer, J. E. Yack, B. Misof & J. W. Breinholt. 2019. Phylogenomics reveals the evolutionary timing and pattern of butterflies and moths. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 116 (45): 22657–22663.

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[ONE03] Oberprieler, R. G., W. A. Nässig & E. D. Edwards. 2003. Ebbepterote, a new genus for the Australian ‘Eupterote’ expansa (T. P. Lucas), with a revised classification of the family Eupterotidae (Lepidoptera). Invertebrate Systematics 17: 99–110.

[P01] Pável, J. 1901. Lepkék [Lepidopteren]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 171–177. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[P93] Pittaway, A. R. 1993. The Hawkmoths of the Western Palaearctic. Harley Books: Colchester.

[RM01] Regier, J. C., C. Mitter, T. P. Friedlander & R. S. Peigler. 2001. Re: phylogenetic relationships in Sphingidae (Insecta: Lepidoptera): initial evidence from two nuclear genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 20 (2): 311–316.

[R13] Reuter, O. M. 1913. Lebensgewohnheiten und Instinkte der Insekten bis zum Erwachen der sozialen Instinkte. R. Friedländer & Sohn: Berlin.

[R26] Risso, A. 1826. Histoire naturelle des principales productions de l’Europe méridionale et particulièrement de celles des environs de Nice et des Alpes maritimes vol. 5. F.-G. Levrault: Paris.