Deilephila elpenor (Linnaeus, 1758) - Large Elephant Hawkmoth

Taxonomic Information

Deilephila Laspeyres, 1809 species known from India.
Deilephila elpenor (Linnaeus, 1758). India: Karnataka (Channi et al., 2017), North West India (Rafi et al., 2014), Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya. 
Deilephila rivularis (Boisdual, (1875). India: Uttarakhand, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh (Sidhu and Nair, 2017).

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
Daman & Diu
Delhi
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir UT
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya2
Mizoram
Nagaland1
Odisha
Paschimbanga
Pondicherry
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal
Total21
  1. Choerocampa macromera Butler, 1875. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1875: 7. Type locality: [Bangladesh] Silhet [Sylhet]; N. India. Text at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/90418#page/37/mode/1up
  2. Hampson, G. F. [1893]. The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma. Moths, Vol. 1. Taylor & Francis, London. Pp. xxiii + 527. Saturniidae to Hypsidae 527 p - 333 fig. pg. 410,
  3. Haruta, T. (Ed.). 1992. Moths of Nepal. Part 1. TINEA. Vol. 13 (Supplement 2). The Japan Heterocerists’ Society, Tokyo. Pl. 23/13.
  4. Haruta, T. (Ed.). 1998. Moths of Nepal. Part 5. TINEA. Vol. 15 (Supplement 1). The Japan Heterocerists’ Society, Tokyo.pg. 41.
  5. Pittaway, A.R. and Kitching, I.J., 2000. Notes on selected species of hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) from China, Mongolia and the Korean Peninsula. Tinea, 16(3), pp.170-211.
  6. http://tpittaway.tripod.com/china/d_elp.htm. Mentions “Further study may show that there is simply a clinal change in colour in this species through Yunnan and that Deilephila elpenor macromera is not distinct.
  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deilephila_elpenor
  8. http://en.sphingidae-museum.com/database/index.php?gen=Deilephila&spec=elpenor&subsp=
  9. http://sphingidae.myspecies.info/taxonomy/term/863

Page citation

Anonymous 2025. Deilephila elpenor (Linnaeus, 1758) – Large Elephant Hawkmoth. In Sondhi, S., Y. Sondhi, R.P. Singh, P. Roy and K. Kunte (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 3.9. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://mothsofindia.org/deilephila-elpenor, accessed 2025/04/23.