Death's-head
Hawk-moth Acherontia atropos (Linnaeus,
1758)  |
| Status
.....Now an extremely rare migrant to
Nottinghamshire, the Death's-head Hawk-moth was certainly
more regular a century or more ago. J.W. Carr in his book
'The Invertebrate Fauna of Nottinghamshire. Nottingham:
J.& H. Bell Ltd. (1916)' lists numerous records, many
of either larvae or pupae found during potato harvesting.
As harvesting is now done by mechanical methods, there
are fewer reports of this spectacular moth. The last
Nottinghamshire record of a genuine migrant Death's-head
Hawk-moth is of a female recorded by G. Shaw at East
Retford on 04/07/66 (per
Nottingham Natural History Museum) and most recently at Lound GP on 10/09/95,
when recorded by Gary and Paul Hobson. |
| .... |
| Captive-bred
adult photographed May 2018 |
 |
|
 |
| .... |
| Captive-bred
adult photographed April 2018 |
 |
|
 |
| |
|
Early stages |
| Ova/egg.
Photographed July 2022. |
 |
|
 |
| .... |
| 1st instar larva.
Photographed July 2022. |
 |
|
 |
| .... |
| 2nd instar larva.
Photographed July 2022. |
 |
|
 |
| .... |
| 3rd instar larva.
Photographed July 2022. |
 |
|
 |
|
.... |
|
4th instar larva, still with green
colouration. Yellow colouration is can appear anytime after 3rd instar.
Photographed July 2022. |
 |
|
 |
|
.... |
|
4th instar larva (normal colour form).
Photographed July 2022. |
 |
|
 |
|
.... |
|
5th instar larva (brown form).
Photographed July 2022. |
 |
|
 |
