Maile pilau hornworm
Despite the name, the adult is a day-flying moth that hovers at flowers on rapidly beating wings, feeding through a long uncoiled proboscis like a hummingbird.
| Where | Gardens and forest edges across East Asia |
|---|---|
| Size | 40 to 56 mm wingspan |
| When | July to November |
The forewings are brown and the hindwings show a warmer reddish-orange tone than in most related hawkmoths, with a stout tan-brown body and a fan of dark hairs at the tip of the abdomen. The related Hummingbird hawk-moth has plainer orange hindwings edged with black.
Caterpillars feed on Paederia vines, a common hedgerow and waste-ground plant, and adults visit garden and forest-edge flowers by day, hovering in place while they feed rather than landing.
Traits
Habitat
Garden
Colour
Brown, Orange
Active
Day
To people
Harmless to people; often seen hovering at garden flowers in daylight.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Hindwings are plain orange edged with black, while the Maile pilau hornworm shows a more reddish-orange hindwing tone.
Questions
Is the Maile pilau hornworm dangerous to people?
Harmless to people; often seen hovering at garden flowers in daylight.
When can you see the Maile pilau hornworm?
The Maile pilau hornworm can be seen from July to November, by day.
Plate retouched from a museum specimen photo by Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute, CC BY 4.0, GBIF Licence
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Butterflies and moths›Hawk moths›Macroglossum
Last updated 2026-09-27. Every entry is checked against published sources.