Site navigation
-
Wildlife of Sydney
- Wildlife of Sydney
- Habitats of Sydney
- Crustaceans
- Lace corals and sea mats
- Jellyfish, anemones and corals
- Frogs
- Frogs: Class Amphibia
- Bleating Tree Frog
- Brown Toadlet
- Common Eastern Froglet
- Dainty Tree Frog
- Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog
- Eastern Pobblebonk Frog
- Giant Barred Frog
- Giant Burrowing Frog
- Green and Golden Bell Frog
- Green Tree Frog
- Haswell's Froglet
- Jervis Bay Tree Frog
- Leaf Green Tree Frog
- Lesueur's Frog
- Peron's Tree Frog
- Red-crowned Toadlet
- Red-eyed Tree Frog
- Rocket Frog
- Sandpaper Frog
- Striped Marsh Frog
- Spotted Marsh Frog
- Tusked Frog
- Tyler's Toadlet
- Verreaux's Tree Frog
- Insects
- Ant-raiding Ant
- Bull ants
- Funnel Ant
- Golden-spined Ant
- Green-head Ant
- Meat Ant
- Spider Ant
- Sugar Ant
- Common Blue-banded Bee
- Common Wasp-mimic Bee
- Cuckoo bees
- Feathery Leioproctus Bee
- Honey Bee
- Leafcutter Bee
- Masked bees
- Nomia bees
- Peacock Carpenter Bee
- Reed bees
- Stingless Bee
- White-banded bees
- Braconid wasps
- Cuckoo wasps
- Diapriid wasps
- European Wasp
- Fig wasps
- Flower wasps
- Hatchet wasps
- Ichneumonid wasps
- Mud-dauber Wasp
- Paper wasps
- Potter wasps
- Sand wasps
- Spider wasps
- Velvet ants
- Steel-blue sawflies
- Australian Carpet Beetle
- Beach rove beetles
- Bess Beetle
- Blue Mountains Firefly
- Bombardier Beetle
- Christmas Beetle
- Click beetles
- Darkling Beetle
- Feather-winged beetles
- Flat African Dung Beetle
- Jewel Beetle
- Lesser Grain Borer
- Long-nosed Lycid Beetle
- Orchid Beetle
- Paropsine Beetle
- Plague Soldier Beetle
- Powder Post Borer
- Pumpkin Beetle
- Punctate Flower Chafer Beetle
- Transverse Ladybird
- Three-punctured Diving Beetle
- Whirligig Beetle
- Bronze Orange Bug
- Cotton Harlequin Bug
- Crusader Bug
- Feather-legged Assassin Bug
- Floury Baker
- Giant Water Bug
- Greengrocer
- Green Vegetable Bug
- Termite Assassin Bug
- Australian Painted Lady
- Blue Triangle Butterfly
- Cabbage White Butterfly
- Caper White Butterfly
- Common Brown Butterfly
- Common Imperial Blue Butterfly
- Common Grass Blue
- Bronze Flat Butterfly
- Macleay's Swallowtail
- Meadow Argus Butterfly
- Orange Palm Dart
- Orchard Butterfly
- Wanderer Butterfly
- Yellow Admiral
- Emperor Gum Moth
- Giant Wood Moth
- Grapevine Moth
- Privet Hawk Moth
- Scribbly Gum Moth
- White-stemmed Gum Moth
- Fiery Skimmer
- Mountain Tigertail dragonfly
- Pygmy Shutwing
- South-eastern Petaltail
- Sydney Hawk Dragonfly
- Waterfall Redspot
- Balsam Beast
- Black Field Cricket
- Blackish Meadow Katydid
- Common Garden Katydid
- Common Macrotona Grasshopper
- Common Pyrgomorph
- Illawarra Raspy Cricket
- Mole Cricket
- Sydney Gum Leaf Katydid
- Flat Cockroach
- German Cockroach
- Native Cockroaches
- False Garden Mantid
- Purple-winged Mantid
- Australian Sheep Blowfly
- Biting midges
- Crane flies
- House Fly
- Hover flies
- March flies
- Mosquitoes
- Robber flies
- Vinegar Fly
- Reptiles
- Birds
- Spiders
- What are spiders?
- Bird-dropping spiders
- Black House and Grey House Spiders
- Daddy-long-legs Spider
- Flower Spiders
- Garden Orb Weaving Spiders
- Golden Orb Weaving Spiders
- Ground spiders
- Huntsman Spiders
- Jumping spiders
- Magnificent Spider
- Net-casting Spiders
- Redback Spider
- Sac Spiders
- Silver Orb Weaving Spiders
- Spotted Ground Spiders
- Sydney Funnel-web Spider
- Trapdoor Spiders
- Wolf Spiders
- Centipedes and millipedes
- Sea squirts and cunjevoi
- Sea stars, sea urchins and other echinoderms
- Mammals
- Mammals: Mammalia
- Australian Fur Seal
- Black Rat
- Bottlenose Dolphin
- Bush Rat
- Common Bent-wing Bat
- Common Brushtail Possum
- Common Ringtail Possum
- Feathertail Glider
- Grey-headed Flying-fox
- House Mouse
- Humpback Whale
- Koala
- Long-nosed Bandicoot
- Short-beaked Echidna
- Southern Brown Bandicoot
- Southern Right Whale
- Spotted-tailed Quoll
- Sugar Glider
- Swamp Wallaby
- Water-rat
- Freshwater fish
- Sharks and rays
- Common Stingaree, Trygonoptera testacea Müller & Henle, 1841
- Eastern Shovelnose Ray, Aptychotrema rostrata (Shaw & Nodder, 1794)
- Greynurse Shark, Carcharias taurus Rafinesque, 1810
- Port Jackson Shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni (Meyer, 1793)
- Spotted Wobbegong, Orectolobus maculatus (Bonnaterre, 1788)
- White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Marine fishes
- Australian Mado, Atypichthys strigatus Günther, 1860
- Bigbelly Seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis Lesson, 1827
- Blacktip Bullseye at South Solitary Island
- Eastern Blue Devil, Paraplesiops bleekeri
- Eastern Blue Groper, Achoerodus viridis (Steindachner, 1866)
- Eastern Frogfish, Batrachomoeus dubius (White, 1790)
- Eastern Wirrah, Acanthistius ocellatus (Günther, 1859)
- Fanbelly Leatherjacket, Monacanthus chinensis (Isbeck, 1765)
- Fortescue, Centropogon australis (White, 1790)
- John Dory, Zeus faber Linnaeus, 1758
- Luderick, Girella tricuspidata (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)
- Mulloway, Argyrosomus japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)
- Old Wife, Enoplosus armatus (White, 1790)
- Peppered Sole, Aseraggodes sp
- Pineapplefish, Cleidopus gloriamaris De Vis, 1882
- Red Indian Fish, Pataecus fronto Richardson, 1844
- Red Morwong, Cheilodactylus fuscus (Castelnau, 1879)
- Red Rockcod, Scorpaena cardinalis Richardson, 1842
- Sand Whiting, Sillago ciliata Cuvier, 1829
- Sergeant Baker, Hime purpurissatus Richardson, 1843
- Silver Biddy, Gerres subfasciatus (Cuvier, 1830)
- Snapper, Pagrus auratus
- Sydney Cardinalfish, Apogon limenus (Randall & Hoese, 1988)
- Trumpetfish, Aulostomus chinensis (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (Lacépède, 1804)
- White's Seahorse, Hippocampus whitei Bleeker, 1855
- Molluscs
- Overview of molluscs - Phylum Mollusca
- Non-marine Molluscs
- Blacklip Abalone
- Black Nerites
- Blue-lined Octopus
- Blue mussels
- Cart-rut Shell
- Common Pipi
- Common Sydney Octopus
- Elephant Snail
- Garden Snail
- Giant Cuttlefish
- Ischnochiton australis
- Leopard Slug
- Limpets
- Little Blue Periwinkle
- Red Triangle Slug
- Sea Hare
- Squid
- Sydney Cockle
- Sydney Mud Whelk
- Sydney Rock Whelk
- Turban Snail
- Violet Snail
- Zebra Snail
- Sponges
- About the Museum
- What's on
- Visiting the Australian Museum
ANIMAL SPECIES:Privet Hawk Moth
The Privet Hawk Moth is a large, dull grey moth whose green caterpillars feed on Privet.
Identification
The caterpillars of the Privet Hawk Moth are green with diagonal white stripes and have a horn present on the end of their tail. This horn looks dangerous, but is quite harmless.
Size range
12 cm wingspanDistribution
The Privet Hawk Moth is found in eastern and northern Australia.
Habitat
The Privet Hawk Moth lives in urban areas, forests and woodlands.
Behaviour and adaptations
Feeding and Diet
The caterpillars of the Privet Hawk Moth are commonly seen in Sydney feeding on privet. They also eat jasmine and a number of other plants.
Other behaviours and adaptations
When disturbed, male Privet Hawk Moths may make a hissing sound by rubbing together a specialised set of scales and spines at the end of the abdomen.
Classification
- Species:
- menephron
- Genus:
- Psilogramma
- Subfamily:
- Sphinginae
- Family:
- Sphingidae
- Superfamily:
- Sphingoidea
- Order:
- Lepidoptera
- Class:
- Insecta
- Subphylum:
- Uniramia
- Phylum:
- Arthopoda
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
Last Updated: 14 October 2009
Would you like to add a comment?
Sign up to add comments and find out more about the other benefits you can enjoy.
Would you like to add a tag?
Sign up to add tags and find out more about the other benefits you can enjoy.
Privet Hawk Moth View full size
R.Jessop
© Australian Museum
Privet Hawk Moth caterpillar View full size
Matthew Bulbert
© Matthew Bulbert
Support us
Help us continue to provide quality research, education, community programs and exhibitions.
Online Shop
Featuring a selection of products relating to the collections.
Australian Museum Members
Join today to come to the Museum for free and enjoy many other benefits.
AMBS
Australian Museum Business Services - Ecological, archaeological and heritage consulting.
Museum as a Venue
We have many unique venues ideal for dinner, cocktails, weddings and conferences.
news
Frank Howarth
Robin Torrence
19 February 2010
In its role as a leading scientific institution, the Australian Museum recognizes that climate change poses a serious environmental, economic and social threat to our current way of life and to the security of future generations across the globe.
Michael Harvey
21 January 2010
The winner of this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has been stripped of his prize, after a review of the award by the judging panel.
what's new
- This week in Fish: Lost Barramundi and a new Research Associate
- Greg Pratt
- Karen Wong
- Common Lionfish, Pterois volitans (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common Lionfish in the Gold Coast Seaway
- Earth Hour 2010
- Rainbow Lorikeet
- Sorting specimens
- King Penguin collected during Mawson's Antarctic expedition
- Antarctic Iceberg
what's popular
- Australian Museum Ornithology Collection
- Warty Prowfish, Aetapcus maculatus (Günther, 1861)
- Australian Museum Palaeontology Collection
- Palorchestes: A tale of misidentification
- Australian Museum Mammalogy Collection
- Mammals: Mammalia
- Moths, butterflies and skippers: Order Lepidoptera
- Spotted Wobbegong, Orectolobus maculatus (Bonnaterre, 1788)
- Chitons - Class Polyplacophora
- Intertidal habitats
recent comments
“
Yes Dr Lowry is planning to publish online the new microcrustacia classifications that he has been...”
“I've been bitten 6 times by redbacks, 3 times in one day. The first time i was in my backyard and i got...”
“
Hi Kels, Your question is a tough one to answer. I would suggest that a species is 'native' to anywhere...”