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28 March 2014

Striped Hawk-moth Dhahran Hills – Record by Elizabeth Ayouby

I received an e-mail a few days ago with some great photos of a Striped Hawk-moth from Elizabeth Ayouby who lives in Dhahran Hills. Her family found the moth in their garden over the last weekend, a moth I have yet to see in Saudi Arabia. The Striped Hawk-moth is the most common Hawk-moth in Arabia, it is an insect of the open desert where it breeds on a number of different plants. It flies at night and migrates to other countries reaching as far north as Scandinavia.  A successful breeding season often occurs after heavy rain with vast numbers of moths occurring. The thorax of the Striped Hawk-moth has four distinct white stripes running lengthways, and the antennae have white tips. There is a white dorsal stripe running along the abdomen and each of the underwings has a bright red patch. Elizabeth kindly allowed me to use her photos on my website which are shown below, with the top photo having a business card shown for scale.