# Small Elephant Hawkmoth

*Deilephila porcellus*

When threatened, the caterpillar retracts its head into its body, inflating its front segments to mimic a small, staring snake to scare off birds.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Lepidoptera › Sphingidae › Deilephila
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** grassland
- **Habitat:** Chalk downs, dry grasslands, sand dunes, heathlands, and woodland edges
- **Diet:** Adults feed on flower nectar (honeysuckle, campion, bedstraw); larvae feed on bedstraw (Galium) and willowherb (Epilobium)
- **Range:** Europe, North Africa, Western Asia
- **Size:** Wingspan of 40 to 50 mm
- **Lifespan:** 3 to 5 weeks as an adult; up to 1 year including egg, larval, and pupal stages
- **Active:** nocturnal
- **Threats:** Habitat loss due to intensive agriculture, pesticide use, and light pollution disrupting nocturnal behaviors
- **Safe to approach?:** Completely harmless to humans. If you encounter one, observe from a short distance as it hovers near flowers at dusk. Avoid touching its delicate wings, as handling can rub off the scales vital for its flight.

## About

Deilephila porcellus , known as the small elephant hawk-moth , is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It is found in Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/0dfa66a9-e166-44b9-8938-7d3d235359c2
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/202083
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deilephila porcellus
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/877597/medium.jpg (Donald Hobern, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.