Proserpinus juanita (Strecker 1876)

This is a rarely encountered species, at the northern edge of its range in Alberta

Adults have been collected in Alberta from late May to July.

Juanita ranges from the grasslands of southern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta south across the Great Plains to northern Mexico. In Alberta, it has been collected in the Grasslands region, in the Lethbridge and Drumheller areas.

A medium to large-size (4.5-6.0 cm wingspan) narrow-winged diurnal moth. The forewings are light yellow-brown or greenish-brown, crossed by a wide dark brown median band, bordered on the outside edge by a light orange band, which in turn blends into a dark terminal border. The hindwings are orange bordered with black. The body is light yellow-brown.

Prairie roadsides and meadows.

Juanita is another small colorful day-flying sphinx moth that may be found nectaring at flowers. Unlike most sphingid larvae, those of juanita lack an anal "horn". There is a single brood each year.

No Alberta data; elsewhere reported larval hosts include Evening Primrose (Oenothera sp.) and Willowherb (Epilobium sp.).

Proserpinus juanita, the Juanita sphinx, is a moth of the family Sphingidae first described by Herman Strecker in 1877. It is found from the US states of Montana and North Dakota, south to Arizona, and east to Missouri and Texas.