While harvesting vegetables I freightened a large brown flying something. I followed it and it's wings were beating like a hummingbird as it was trapped against the stone wall of my garden. It then flew through my garden and landed on a Euphorbia. Camera in hand I started to try and get some good closeups while my neighbor and husband held the foliage back.
It is huge and looks like a moth, not a butterfly, with a body approxipately 2" long, large eyes and wings that are split and attached high over the body. The photos are closeups of the insect while hanging with no full wingspan. It remained as still as something hiding in camouflage. Is this what has been eating my flowers?
I will try to research what exactly I am seeing but, if anyone out there knows its name, please comment.
Looks like a Pandoras Sphinx Moth - Eumorpha pandorus
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Or Eumorpha intermedia, perhaps:
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I agree with Ray. It is definitely in the Sphingidae Family! I found a Sphinx Moth last year in the plant nursery I worked for, and it was quite amazing! He looked a lot like this guy! Good catch, Michele!
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