Silkmoths and more: Darapsa choerilus

When you go through the HOSTS database of the British Natural History Museum you see quite many hostplants listed for the North American Azalea Sphinx (Darapsa choerilus). I advise some caution here. Look for the exact plant species listed and do not just assume that they will eat all other members of that genus. For example, I reared this stock on Viburnum opulus, no problem there, this plant is well accepted. I also tried a Viburnum burkwoodii cultivar. The larvae didn't even look at it. Whether they will accept a plant out of the list of known hosts, may also depend on the locality they originate from. Don't be surprised that they do no start to eat on the plant you wanted to use. Make sure you always have an alternative at hand when you want to start a Darapsa choerilus brood. Once started the rearing is easy. Keep them in well ventilated plastic containers. The warmer you keep them, the faster they grow and the more flights they will produce. Under cooler rearing conditions they stick to one flight only, with pupae hibernating through the winter. Under better circumstances, moths emerge after a pupal stay of approximately 30 days.