Ottawa (Dunrobin), ON Canada

12 July 2003   9:13PM EST

Sphinx canadensis, commonly known as the Canadian Sphinx, is one of seven species of Sphinx recorded from the Ottawa area (J.D. Lafontaine, pers. comm., 2001).  My thanks to Dr. J. Donald Lafontaine of Agriculture Canada for confirming my identification of this specimen, which was given to the Canadian National Collection in Ottawa.

Sphinx canadensis has a gray-brown forewing with a streaky appearance.  A series of black dashes and whitish streaks represent incomplete, sharply and deeply zigzag lines in the outer half of the wing.  The hindwing is crossed by blackish and whitish bands, somewhat diffuse, with the blackish band along the outer margin shading to brown in the terminal area.  Covell (1984) indicates a wingspan of 7.0 to 8.5 cm for this species.

According to Handfield (1999), there is some conflicting information about the larval host plant for Sphinx canadensis, black ash (Fraxinus nigra) being most commonly cited, but with low-bush blueberry and other species of ash also mentioned.  Handfield gives an adult flight season from before mid-June to the beginning of August for my general area.

My only record to date for Sphinx canadensis (each date representing "the night of") is in the table below: