Achemon Sphinx Eggs Arrive

Our Achemon Sphinx Moth eggs (Eumorpha achemon) have arrived from a Utah breeder.

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Our Achemon Sphinx eggs (Eumorpha achemon) have finally arrived from a breeder in Utah. The eggs came in a small flat plastic case, but we transferred them to a small petri dish and placed them in a safe place where they wouldn't desiccate from direct sunlight. There are 26 eggs in total, 2 more than what we asked for to compensate for a less than 100% hatch rate. The eggs are leaf-green and remind us of eggs of Tiger Swallowtail species, but instead of spherical, they are ovoid just like the eggs of the Ophthalm Sphinx moth and Imperial Moth that we have reared. Most of them are somewhat mottled with yellowish green, so perhaps they are about to hatch? They were laid several days and can take as little as 3-4 days to hatch so perhaps they will hatch tomorrow morning.

As for general information about the Achemon Sphinx, it is a large Sphingid with a wingspan of 8.7 - 9.6 cm (BAMONA) and inhabits most parts of the U.S., though it hasn't been reported in our area. The caterpillars specialize on grape (Vitis) and related vines in the Ampelopsis; we plan to feed them them grape. This species is belongs to the Macroglossinae subfamily of Sphingidae whose members have very long proboscises and probably live for weeks or months in contrast to the Smerinthinae subfamily and Saturniidae that lack functional mouth parts and live short adult lifespans. This makes breeding them a little trickier though, since they will probably not lay their eggs as readily. The adult moths are brown with slender and pointy body and wings. The caterpillars are variable in color from green, brown, orange and red with notched white lateral streaks and have an eyespot-like "button" instead of a horn in the final instar. 

Anyways, we wanted to rear this species mainly because it is seldom offered and we haven't reared a many Sphingids in general and never one of the Macroglossinae. There are also a lot of nice grape sources around here and the leaves so it would be nice to make some use of them. And finally, we find the caterpillars very interesting looking, with hilariously pudgy thoraxes in the later instars (can't help but like the fatties!), and they are probably very easy to rear like most Shingids. With that being said, we hope this species will be a very fun one to rear!

- Alan