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Object name(s):
insect: moth; SPHINGIDAE: Deilephila elpenor: elephant hawk-moth; elephant hawk-moth
Brief description:
Adult elephant hawk-moths are quite a common sight May-July across the UK. Frank Lees found this specimen near his home at Maidencombe 5 July 1961. The caterpillar (larva) looks a little like an elephant’s trunk. It would make a tasty snack for a foraging bird but it has alarming eye spots and by rearing up and retracting its head it tricks the bird into thinking it is a snake. This object is not on display.
Collection:
Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery
Associated concept:
Insect
Current location:
Not on display
Field collection place:
Maidencombe
Place coordinates:
-3.517,50.505
Field collection place:
Torquay
Place coordinates:
-3.517,50.505
Field collection place:
Devon
Place coordinates:
-3.517,50.505
Field collection place:
United Kingdom: England
Place coordinates:
-3.517,50.505
Field collection place:
Northern Europe
Place coordinates:
-3.517,50.505
Field collection place:
Europe
Place coordinates:
-3.517,50.505
Field collector:
Devon & Exeter Institution (from the collection of)
Field collector:
Mr Frank H Lees (collector)
Object name:
insect: moth; SPHINGIDAE: Deilephila elpenor (Linnaeus, 1758): elephant hawk-moth; elephant hawk-moth
Object number:
9/1997/29
Reproduction number:
9-1997-29.jpg
Reproduction number:
9-1997-29-shot1.jpg
Responsible department/section:
Natural Sciences
Responsible department/section:
Arthropods

Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/5d4ab291-8e32-3700-b55b-ed15af7f84d2

Use licence for this record: CC 0

Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/5d4ab291-8e32-3700-b55b-ed15af7f84d2, Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, CC 0

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