Sphinx kalmiae

Sphinx kalmiae, the laurel sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae.

Distribution
It is found in the temperate parts of the United States and southern Canada east of the Great Plains, in the north it occurs west of the Rocky Mountains.

Description
The wingspan is 75–103 mm.

Biology
In Canada, there is one generation per year with adults on wing in June and July. More to the south, there are two generations per year with adults on wing from late May to June and again from July to August. There may be as many as six generations in Louisiana.

The larvae feed on Chionanthus, Kalmia, Syringa and Fraxinus species.

Taxonomy
English entomologist James Edward Smith named this moth after Kalmia, the plant on which its caterpillar was first observed.