Smerinthus is a Holarctic genus of hawkmoths in the family Sphingidae. It was described by Pierre André Latreille in 1802. Adults have conspicuous eyespots on the hindwings.
The pattern and coloration of the forewing typically resembles dried leaves rather than tree bark as in many other sphinx moths. While larvae feed on a variety of host plants, adults have reduced or absent mouthparts and do not feed at all.
Species Smerinthus astarte Strecker, Smerinthus caecus Menetries, 1857 Smerinthus cerisyi Kirby, 1837 Smerinthus jamaicensis (Drury, 1773) Smerinthus kindermannii Lederer, 1853 Smerinthus minor Mell, 1937 Smerinthus ocellatus (Linnaeus, 1758) Smerinthus ophthalmica Boisduval, 1855 Smerinthus planus Walker, 1856 Smerinthus saliceti Boisduval, 1875 Smerinthus szechuanus (Clark, 1938) Smerinthus tokyonis Matsumura, 1921 Smerinthus visinskasi Zolotuhin & Saldaitis, 2009
Nomenclatural note
The name Smerinthus is apparently derived from the Greek feminine noun 'Merinthos', but has been Latinised with the masculine -us ending and is thus, according to the ICZN article 30.1.3,International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 4th Edition, 1999, Article 30.1.3. masculine.Paclt, J. (1978). "The Nomenclature in an important British checklist (1972): part 4: correct gender for some other generic names". Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera. 17: 24-26. As the ICZN rules that species names that are adjectives should agree in gender with the genus name, the common use of Smerinthus ocellata for the widespread European species Smerinthus ocellatus is incorrect.
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