Bee Hawk Moth - Cephonodes kingii
Family Sphingidae
This page contains information about Bee Hawk Moths that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 40mm
- This moth was found feeding on flowers late afternoon outside our office in a hot summer day. It abdomen is yellow and black look like a bee. On its back is greyish-green in colour. Its wings are transparent. It was hovering flowers and flying like a small bird.
- After we knew the moth was in the garden of our office. I easily found it resting on plants during the day. It stayed at the same area for a few days.
- The caterpillars are stout, with cylindrical hairless body and small head, with a prominent tapering horn on their last segment. They have grey and green line across the back. They feed on Rubiaceae, including Gardenia, the Cape Jasmine.
- Reference:
- 1. Moths of Australia - Bernard D'Abrera, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1974, p67.
- 2. Cephonodes kingii ( W.S. Macleay, [1826]) - by Don Herbison-Evans & Stella Crossley, 2006.
