Waved Sphinx

Ceratomia undulosa · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Sphingidae

Also called: Waved Sphinx Moth

Damages trees, gardens or crops. The larvae can feed on and damage a variety of trees and shrubs such as ash, oak, and hawthorn.

Source: Wikipedia

Waved Sphinx
Photo: Anne C Lewis, CC BY

The waved sphinx is a moth in the Sphingidae family found east of the Rockies in the US and southern Canada. Its caterpillars eat leaves of ash, privet, oak, hawthorn and fringe tree, and they pupate underground. Adults are active at night and hide as dawn approaches.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Ceratomia undulosa, called the waved sphinx, belongs to the moth family Sphingidae.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Caterpillars feed on ash, privet, oak, hawthorn and fringe tree leaves.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

When ready to transform, the larvae dig underground to pupate.

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

Adult moths are strictly nocturnal and hide as dawn comes.

Source: Wikipedia

Lookalikes

It is also known as the "Scorpion Moth".

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 44 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Vermont, New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Alabama, Michigan.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

JFMAMJJASOND

Source: GBIF

More photos

Waved Sphinx photo 3
Photo: Connor McInerney, CC BY
Waved Sphinx photo 4
Photo: Ciera Grijalva, CC BY
Waved Sphinx photo 5
Photo: NC Moth Project, CC BY-SA
Waved Sphinx photo 6
Photo: Thomas Irvine, CC BY

Questions people ask

Can the larvae damage my garden plants?

Yes, the caterpillars feed on leaves of several common garden trees and shrubs.

Source: Wikipedia

Same family (Sphingidae)

White-lined SphinxWhite-lined SphinxHyles lineataDamages trees, gardens or cropsEurasian Hummingbird HawkmothEurasian Hummingbird HawkmothMacroglossum stellatarumSnowberry ClearwingSnowberry ClearwingHemaris diffinisCarolina SphinxCarolina SphinxManduca sextaDamages trees, gardens or cropsHummingbird ClearwingHummingbird ClearwingHemaris thysbeDamages trees, gardens or cropsElephant HawkmothElephant HawkmothDeilephila elpenor

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratomia_undulosa

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.