Cautethia grotei, commonly known as Grote's Sphinx, is a moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 of the Sphingidae

Sphingidae

Sphingidae is a family of moths , commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths and hornworms, that includes about 1,200 species . It is best represented in the tropics but there are species in every region . They are moderate to large in size and are distinguished among moths for their rapid,...

 family. It resides in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and the Caribbean Islands

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 is 28-40 mm. There are multiple generations per year in Florida. Adults nectar at various flowers, including Asystasia gangetica

Asystasia gangetica

Asystasia gangetica is a species of plant in the Acanthaceae family. It is commonly known as the Chinese Violet, Coromandel or Creeping Foxglove. In South Africa this plant may simply be called Asystasia.-Description:...

and Dracaena fragrans

Dracaena fragrans

Dracaena fragrans is a flowering plant species that is native throughout tropical Africa, from Sudan south to Mozambique, west to Côte d'Ivoire and southwest to Angola, growing in upland regions at altitude.-Description:...

.

Host Plants

Larvae have been recorded feeding on various Rubiaceae

Rubiaceae

The Rubiaceae is a family of flowering plants, variously called the coffee family, madder family, or bedstraw family. The group contains many commonly known plants, including the economically important coffee , quinine , and gambier , and the horticulturally valuable madder , west indian jasmine ,...

 species, including Milkberry (Chiococca alba

Chiococca alba

Chiococca alba is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family, Rubiaceae, that is native to Florida and the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States, Bermuda, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and tropical South America. Common names include David's Milkberry, West Indian...

), Black Torch (Erithalis

Erithalis

Erithalis is a genus of flowering plants in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. It contains the following species :* Erithalis harrisii Urb.* Erithalis quadrangularis Krug & Urb....

 fruticosa) and Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos

Symphoricarpos

Symphoricarpos, with common names in English of Snowberry, Waxberry or Ghostberry, is a small genus of about 15 species of deciduous shrubs in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. All species are natives of North and Central America, except one native to western China...

 albus

Symphoricarpos albus

Symphoricarpos albus is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family known by the common name common snowberry. It is native to North America, where it occurs across much of Canada and the northern United States. It grows in shady and moist mountain and forest habitat, in woodlands and on...

).

Subspecies

• Cautethia grotei grotei (Florida, Cuba, the Bahamas, Cayman Isands and possibly Hispaniola and Jamaica. Strays have been found up to Tennessee, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York and even New Hampshire)
• Cautethia grotei apira Jordan, 1940 (Cayman Islands)
• Cautethia grotei hilaris Jordan, 1940 (Cayman Islands)

External links

• Grote's sphinx Butterflies and Moths of North America
• Cautethia grotei grotei Sphingidae of the Americas