Eumorpha fasciatus
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Eumorpha fasciatus, the banded sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Johann Heinrich Sulzer in 1776. It is found from northern Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, north through Central America (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama) to southern California and southern Arizona, east to Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and South Carolina. Strays can be found north up to Missouri, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Nova Scotia. It is also found in the Caribbean.
Adults are on wing year round in the tropics, but in the north, there are at least two generations with adults on wing from the end of May to July and the end of August to October in South Carolina and from May to October in Louisiana. Adults have been recorded feeding on nectar of Crinum, Catharanthus roseus, Petunia and Saponaria officinalis.
The larvae feed on Ludwigia (including L. decurrens, L. erecta, L. leptocarpa, L. octovalvis, L. peruviana and L. repens), Cissus verticillata, Fuchsia hybrida, Magnolia virginiana, Parthenocissus... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palo Verde National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Piedras Blancas National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | Galápagos Islands | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | São Luís | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Rosario | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Asuncion | 🇵🇾 Paraguay | |
| 4 | Quito | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 5 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 6 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Bogota | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 10 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Sphinx sighting in Houston on a given day, based on 115 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 141st most-seen of the 1057 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July to October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Banded Sphinx in Houston on a given day, against under 5% in November to June, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Banded Sphinx sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Among the best
Of the 20 cities where we can rate Banded Sphinx sightings, Houston ranks 8th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in São Luís (Brazil, about 10%), Rosario (Argentina, about 10%) and Asuncion (Paraguay, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Banded Sphinx is recorded against all the insects logged in Houston (115 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
