# ID this crazy butterfly
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 16, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452 "2013-08-16T21:40:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452/1 "2013-08-16T21:40:14Z")
Or maybe it’s a moth. Or maybe neither. But whatever… [have a look](http://imageshack.us/g/1/10279943/).
I saw this thing on a milkweed plant in North Reading, Massachusetts this afternoon. It’s really like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s clear that the wing shape and coloration is a kind of camouflage; from a distance, it looks like a pair of dead leaves. But the sharply upcurved abdomen and the steampunk antennae are features I’ve never seen before.
Unleash your inner lepidopterist and tell me what it is!
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452/2 "2013-08-16T21:41:48Z")
That’s a moth, isn’t it?
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452/3 "2013-08-16T21:54:29Z")
[Poplar Hawk Moth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laothoe_populi)
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452/4 "2013-08-16T21:55:11Z")
Probably a [Walnut Sphinx](http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/ajugland.htm) _Amorpha juglandis_
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452/5 "2013-08-16T21:57:49Z")
Never mind…I didn’t follow down the page.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452/6 "2013-08-16T22:10:25Z")
Doing a bit more research, the [Small-eyed Sphinx](http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/pmyops.htm) _Paonias myops_ seems to be a better match to the color pattern, especially the yellowish line on the thorax.
Can you get a photo of the open hind wings? That would help.
At any rate, it’s some kind of Sphinx Moth (Sphingidae).
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### Author:  [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452/7 "2013-08-16T23:21:17Z")
That’s a pretty good match. I’m almost certain that’s what it is. Unfortunately, I can’t get a picture of the hind wings, because I’m now miles away.
Anyway, **Colibri** , thanks. Anything that flies, you’re on it!
(And no, **Mangetout** , I’m not going to send it to you so you can eat it. That’s right out.)
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452/8 "2013-08-17T02:00:17Z")
> [@Sal\_Ammoniac](#):
>
> Anyway, **Colibri** , thanks. Anything that flies, you’re on it!
You’re welcome. Sphinx Moths, aka Hawk Moths, aka [Hummingbird Moths](http://www.birderslounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20080405-DSC_0367.jpg) are about my favorite moths. Quite a few of them, especially here in the tropics, have that weird posture when resting that makes them look like twisted up dead leaves.
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### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452/9 "2013-08-17T02:34:55Z")
Holy batterfly, Batman!
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### Author:  [@busterpickle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/busterpickle)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2013, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452/10 "2013-08-17T07:33:45Z")
My parents in Maryland had one of those Hummingbird Moths buzzing around. Blew my mind as I had no idea such a thing existed.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2013, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-crazy-butterfly/666452/11 "2013-08-17T10:21:21Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> You’re welcome. Sphinx Moths, aka Hawk Moths, aka [Hummingbird Moths](http://www.birderslounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20080405-DSC_0367.jpg) are about my favorite moths.
Me too - although people usually look at me funny when I tell them I have a favourite moth.
Hummingbird hawkmoths are occasional visitors to my garden (next year, I plan to grow some extra salvia and verbena plants to try to specifically attract them). I just can’t get over how bird-like they really are.