Smerinthus jamaicensis
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Smerinthus jamaicensis, the twin-spotted sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Dru Drury in 1773. It has a wingspan of 1+3⁄4–3+1⁄4 inches (4.5–8.3 cm), with the outer margins of the forewings unevenly scalloped, but with the coastal margin of the hindwings being almost straight. Males have gray with black and white markings on their forewings, while females are yellowish brown with dark brown and white markings.
Both sexes have red hindwings with a pale yellow border. Sometimes a blue patch may appear as a single eyespot or it may be divided by black bands, creating two or three eyespots. Adult moths are nocturnal and do not feed.
Larvae are polyphageous (eat a wide variety of plants); known hosts include willow (Salix), poplar (Populus), birch (Betula), ash (Fraxinus), elm (Ulmus), apple (Malus), and plums (Prunus). Smerinthus cerisyi Smerinthus saliceti
Fullard, James H.; Napoleone, Nadia (2001). "Diel flight periodicity and the evolution of auditory defences in the Macrolepidoptera" (PDF). Animal Behaviour. 62 (2): 349–368. doi:10.1006/anbe.2001.1753. S2CID 53182157. Archived from the original... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Twin-Spotted Sphinx sighting in Riding Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 85th most-seen of the 104 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July to September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Twin-Spotted Sphinx in Riding Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to June, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Twin-Spotted Sphinx sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Riding Mountain National Park, in our data
Riding Mountain National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Twin-Spotted Sphinx sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Twin-Spotted Sphinx is recorded against all the insects logged in Riding Mountain National Park (5 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
