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How to identify it
- The caterpillar is light green or yellow-green and heavily studded with pointed granules, with seven slanted yellowish stripes running backward along each side; some have wine-red spots along the back, around the breathing holes and on the prolegs.[3][2]
- The head is triangular, with a pale yellow or white granular line on each side meeting at the top. The tail horn is long, green or yellowish at the tip and nearly straight to slightly arched. Grown caterpillars are about 2 1/2 inches (62 mm) long.[2][3]
- The moth's forewings resemble dead leaves in both pattern and outline, with strongly scalloped outer edges. Each hindwing has a broad pink patch and a single large blue eyespot, shown when the moth flicks its forewings open. Ohio gives a wingspan of 2.2 to 3.7 inches; Butterflies and Moths of North America gives 2 3/16 to 3 3/4 inches.[1][6]
Look-alikes
| Look-alike | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| One-eyed sphinx (Paonias myops) | Smaller, with dark brown forewings and orange rather than pink around the hindwing eyespots. Its caterpillar, found on black cherry, closely resembles the blinded sphinx's but has rose-colored spiracles. Names vary: Ohio calls Paonias myops the one-eyed sphinx, while the Forest Service caterpillar guide calls it the small-eyed sphinx and uses 'one-eyed sphinx' for a Smerinthus species.[1][3][2] |
| Other eyespot moths | The io and polyphemus moths also use the false-eye defense; the Ohio guide treats them separately from the sphinx moths.[1] |
Where it lives
Butterflies and Moths of North America gives most of the United States and southern Canada, from Nova Scotia and Maine to Florida and west to British Columbia, Washington, northern California and Arizona. It lives in forests, woodlots and suburbs with larger trees; it is the most common eyespot sphinx in Ohio, and the Forest Service records it on aspen and willow in the Atlantic States. GBIF's public U.S. records since 1990 (about 10,500) come from 43 states on the map, most from Massachusetts, Vermont and Pennsylvania.[6][1][3][7]
Biology and life cycle
Caterpillars are found from May to November. The Forest Service gives two generations a year in the South and one in the North; Butterflies and Moths of North America gives three broods in Florida, several in Louisiana, and one or two elsewhere, with moths flying from May to September.[2][6]
By day the moth sits camouflaged by its leaf-like forewings. When disturbed, it rapidly opens them to uncover the hindwing eyespots; the sudden 'eyes' make birds recoil and often leave.[1]
Eggs hatch seven to eight days after they are laid. Full-grown caterpillars pupate and spend the winter in chambers underground, and the adult moths do not feed.[6]
Like other sphinx caterpillars, they can be parasitized by small braconid wasps; the white oval cocoons sometimes seen on hornworms belong to these wasps.[5]
Damage and signs
Health risk
The sources describe only leaf feeding by the caterpillar and the moth's eyespot display; they report no effects on people.[1][2][3][6]
Control
Prevention
None of the sources gives a control step, and Butterflies and Moths of North America lists the species as globally secure. Ohio describes it as a common moth of forests, woodlots and suburban areas with larger trees, where its caterpillars feed on many tree species.[1][6]
Common questions
- What moth flashes a big eyespot ringed with pink?
- In Ohio, most likely the blinded sphinx, the most common of five sphinx moths with hindwing eyespots. The smaller one-eyed sphinx has orange, not pink, around its eyespots.[1]
- What is the rough green hornworm on my willow or cherry?
- It may be a blinded sphinx caterpillar: light green with pointed granules, seven slanted yellowish side stripes and a triangular head.[3][2]
- Where does the blinded sphinx spend the winter?
- As a pupa in a chamber underground; full-grown caterpillars leave the tree to pupate.[6]
Sources
- Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, “Moths of Ohio Field Guide (Publication 5467).” dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/ohiodnr.gov/documents/wildlife/backyard-wildlife/Moths%20of%20Ohio%20Field%20Guide%20pub5467.pdf (accessed 2026-11-11)
- USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team, “Caterpillars of Eastern Forests, FHTET-96-34 (D. L. Wagner, V. Giles, R. C. Reardon and M. L. McManus, November 1997; scanned copy).” archive.org/details/caterpillarsofea001997 (accessed 2026-11-11)
- USDA Forest Service, “Eastern Forest Insects, Miscellaneous Publication 1175 (W. L. Baker, 1972; scanned copy).” archive.org/details/easternforestins1175bake (accessed 2026-11-11)
- iNaturalist, “Paonias excaecata taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/49716 (accessed 2026-11-11)
- Missouri Department of Conservation, “Sphinx Moths (Hawk Moths).” mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/sphinx-moths-hawk-moths (accessed 2026-11-11)
- Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA), “Blinded sphinx, Paonias excaecata (species account).” www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Paonias-excaecata (accessed 2026-11-11)
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), “Paonias excaecata: occurrence records in the U.S., 1990-2026 (GBIF occurrence search).” api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?taxonKey=4301348&country=US&hasGeospatialIssue=false&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&year=1990%2C2026&facet=stateProvince&facetLimit=400&limit=0 (accessed 2026-11-11). State counts are records reported (iNaturalist research-grade, museum specimens, surveys), not abundance.