Proserpinus

Proserpinus
Proserpinus proserpina
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Subfamily:	Macroglossinae
Genus:	Proserpinus Hübner, 1819
Species
7
Synonyms
Arctonotus Boisduval, 1852 Dieneces Butler, 1881 Lepisesia Grote, 1865 Pogocolon Boisduval, 1875 Pterogon Boisduval, 1828 Pteropogon Meigen, 1829

Proserpinus is a genus of moths in the family Sphingidae, the sphinx moths or hawk moths. Species of the genus are native to North America with the exception of P. proserpinus, which has a much larger range extending from Asia to Africa.^[1]

In general, these moths are green with orange or red hindwings. Like many other hawk moths, they hover in front of flowers like hummingbirds to feed on nectar. The larvae specialize on plants of the evening primrose family, Onagraceae. Exceptions are P. flavofaciata, which has a black and yellow coloration, and P. terlooii, which feeds on spiderlings, plants of the four o'clock family, Nyctaginaceae.^[1]

There are seven species.^[1] Arctonotus lucidus may be included as P. lucidus.

Species include:^[2][3]

• Proserpinus clarkiae (Boisduval, 1852) – Clark's day sphinx
• Proserpinus flavofasciata Walker, 1856 – yellow-banded day sphinx
• Proserpinus gaurae (JE Smith, 1797) – proud sphinx
• Proserpinus juanita (Strecker, 1876)
• Proserpinus lucidus Boisduval, 1852 (syn. Arctonotus lucidus)
• Proserpinus proserpina (Pallas, 1772) – willowherb hawkmoth
• Proserpinus terlooii Edwards, 1875 – Terloo's sphinx
• Proserpinus vega (Dyar, 1903) – Vega sphinx

References

1. Rubinoff, D. and J. J. Le Roux. (2008). Evidence of repeated and independent saltational evolution in a peculiar genus of sphinx moths (Proserpinus: Sphingidae). PLoS One 3(12) e4035.
2. Proserpinus. Funet.
3. Proserpinus. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).