Sphinx canadensis

[rayrard]

Got this odd sphingid in NW Connecticut that appears to be Sphinx canadensis but it's not exactly in range. Here it is shown alongside a Darapsa versicolor for size. It is much smaller than the Ceratomia, Eumorpha, and Manduca seen the same night and seems to have all the characters of canadensis. I do not think this could be a chersis based on size and the amount of mottling.

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[bugboys3]

It certainly appears to be S. canadensis.

[Boghaunter]

I agree - looks good for Canadensis ! If you think NW CON looks out of range - and CON is a lot closer to type locality geographically than the specimen I got last year from Metcalfe Co . Kentucky . Its probably a uncommon bug - but your right - looks like a small version of chersis .

Good find !

[leptraps]

I have taken Sphinx canadensis in numerous locations in both Kentucky and Indiana, but only as singletons. I collected two this year in central Indiana, one in July in Morgan County and one next door in Brown County in August.

And, all of mine are male's. All were collected in Light Traps.

[leptraps]

I forgot, yes, your specimen is Sphinx canadensis.

[vabrou]

Just an FYI, looking for species ranges in some published book or even worse, at some website, means very little. Case in point, over the past half century, I have discovered well over 3,000 species of moths here in my state of Louisiana, that have never been listed anywhere, publications, or temporary websites (ALL websites are temporary). Yet, most of these species do not appear on any of these temporary websites, and often in the latest published books. Think about this, the people placing this information on ALL of these websites, are ALL non-taxonomical beginner enthusiasts. In reality, these unverified records mean nothing. Tell me, when have you seen experienced entomologists, the biggest names in past or present day entomology, lists their records on these temporary websites. One does see a lot of newbie wanna-bees adding every 'bug' they come across to these temporary accumulations of unverified species listings. I have published in print hundreds of such new US records from the tropics, and many, many species previously undocumented, distinctly northern species found here in near Gulf coast locations in Louisiana. One related sphingid to this initial thread topic, e.g., Lintneria eremitus (Sphinx eremitus), represented by 3 excellent quality specimens captured here at my home in S.E. Louisiana, and reported 18 years ago in my 30-year study of the sphingidae of Louisiana. I have numerous similar examples of species known only, or primarily know to be found from the Great lakes Region, or in far western coastal states, yet, I have captured these here at my home, and documented such in good quality color images, and with full data information, including most often, a review of most or all of the past literature records. The controlling factors about all of these far-reaching records is due to a situation I have written about for decades: 'populations of species are geographically fluid, over time'.

[rayrard]

Most sites and books are certainly inaccurate, and listing sites like iNaturalist suffer from poor identification vetting (or at least needs to improve past the single verification system now).

I do like the MPG site and it seems like many professional and amateur collectors are working together to improve the resource. To be honest the Internet will be with us forever and these internet resources will only improve over time as more past and present information is digitized based on museum collections and data. The biggest issue with MPG is the individual vetting of the dot maps where there seems to be erroneous records for many of the species.

I use MPG for my identifications and it's by far the best guide I've come across besides the MONA fascicles which are hard to come by and expensive. But the range maps should be used generally and to make no assumptions about those being anywhere accurate.

[joee30]

I think pages like inaturalist are more geared toward beginners and nature photographers than record keeping. MPG is one of the better sites for identification and bugguide is slowly getting there.