Ceratomia amyntor
species of moth
Ceratomia amyntor, the elm sphinx or four-horned sphinx, is a North American moth in the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Carl Geyer in 1835. It has a wingspan of 3+1⁄4-4+1⁄2 inches (8.2 - 11.5 cm). As the name suggests, the larvae (caterpillars) feed on elm trees (Ulmus), but they can also be found feeding on birch (Betula), basswood (Tilia), and cherry (Prunus). When the caterpillars are ready, they crawl to the bottom of the host tree, where they crawl underneath the soil and pupate and may overwinter underground if late enough into the year.
Range
C. amyntor can be found from Nova Scotia west to Alberta and western North Dakota and Colorado; south Florida reaching into the Gulf Coast, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico.
Status
The species is not threatened.
Life cycle
C. amyntor adults fly as a single brood in the northern portions of their range from June to July. There are two broods further south, flying later into the year, and five broods have been confirmed in Louisiana from March to October.
Egg
Tiny, translucent, lime-green eggs deposited on the underside of host leaves.
“Ceratomia amyntor” enters the record as species of moth. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ceratomia, amyntor and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Ceratomia amyntor” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Ceratomia, amyntor and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q138677. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1835.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ceratomia amyntor” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.