Xylophanes germen courtesy of Paolo Mazzei.

This site has been created by Bill Oehlke at oehlkew@islandtelecom.com
Comments, suggestions and/or additional information are welcomed by Bill.

TAXONOMY: Family: Sphingidae, Latreille, 1802 Subfamily: Macroglossinae, Harris, 1839 Tribe: Macroglossini, Harris, 1839 Genus: Xylophanes Hubner [1819] ........... Species: germen Schaus, 1890

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DISTRIBUTION:

Xylophanes germen moths (wingspan: 72-80 mm] fly from
Costa Rica: Puntarenas;
Guatemala: Izabal (JM); to
Mexico, the specimen type locality.

Xylophanes brevis, which Kitching and Cadiou 2000 equate with Xylophanes germen, flies in Venezuela.

CATE lists it in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, but I do not know where the geographical delineation is between nomimate germen and subspecies yurakano. Yurakano has a smoother forewing outer margin and less contrasting pattern.

CATE: "Forewing with a crenulated outer margin.

"Forewing upperside ground colour olive green-grey; transverse lines indistinct, basal and two antemedian lines curved outward from inner margin and then back towards the costa; three postmedian bands running transversely across the wing, distal to which may be a variably developed paler patch between M2 and CuA1, and an orange-brown patch between M3 and the inner margin (both may be absent in some specimens)."

Xylophanes brevis, Venezuela, from Hawkmoths of Venezuela,
courtesy of Dr. María Esperanza Chacín and José Clavijo A., Ph.D.

FLIGHT TIMES:

Xylophanes germen adults fly in every month of the year in Costa Rica.

Xylophanes germen male, 72mm, Costa rica, courtesy of Dan Janzen.

ECLOSION:

Pupae probably wiggle to surface from subterranean chambers or leaf litter just prior to eclosion.

Xylophanes germen female courtesy of Dan Janzen.

SCENTING AND MATING:

Females call in the males with a pheromone released from a gland at the tip of the abdomen. Males come in to lights very readily, but females are seldom taken in that way.

EGGS, LARVAE, PUPAE:

Larvae feed on Psychotria correae, Psychotria elata, Psychotria eurycarpa and Exostema mexicanum and probably other members of the Rubiaceae family.

Eclosions from pupae occur within three weeks of pupation.

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