Fun Facts

Want some more interesting facts about the Proserpinus clarkiae?
    *Member of the Sphingidae family
    *Wingspan is from 3-3.8 centimeters (Butterflies and Moths of North America 2014 and Macromoths of Northwest   Forests and Woodland 2013).
    *Moths have such impressive hearing that a male moth can smell a female moth that is rougly seven miles away (Live Science 2012).
    *Interestingly enough, some adult moths do not have a mouth, therefore do not eat (Project InSECT LLC 2009).
    *Many moths have the awesome ability to mimic other insects to avoid being eaten by predators.
    *Moths can vary from the size of a pencil tip up to the size of a typical bird (Live Science 2012).

Why should you care about the Clark's Sphinx Moth?
There is an estimated 150-250,000 different species of moths (Butterflies and Moths of North America 2014). This does not include plenty that are still undiscovered. Moths are a huge part of biodiversity and an even bigger part to the ecosystem. If moths were eliminated, this would cause a huge problem for other wildlife. Moths feed on nectar which helps pollinate other flowers and at times, helps with plants evolving. Moths are also considered food for many other organisms. If moths were eliminated from the environment, it would cause a drastic change in the environment. The Proserpinus clarkiae adds to the biodiversity in the ecosystem. 

Why did we choose this organism?
We chose to make our website about the Clark's Sphinx Moth from a wide varitety of organisms spread throughout our professor's study system. Our professor, Dr. Thomsen, started with all grassland species and works as part of the Angelo Reserve. Our organism came from different species that are listed on the Angelo Reserve website. When given the list of these organisms, we at first did not know what any of these organisms were. We were extremely interested in the moth because neither one of us had ever heard of it before. This gave us the ability to reasearch the organism and become more familiar with the incredible Clark's Sphinx! To see more of these organisms from this website and more organisms that my professor studies, click here.

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