CreatureData

Elephant hawk

Deilephila elpenor Linnaeus, 1758

Status not recordedbutterflies and moths

The elephant hawk (Deilephila elpenor) is a species in the family Sphingidae, order Lepidoptera.

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Quick facts about the elephant hawk

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forest, grassland, wetland
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Active
Day and night (cathemeral)
Generations a year
Two
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the elephant hawk live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the elephant hawk as introduced in 1 country.

  1. Canada

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the elephant hawk endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the elephant hawk classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderLepidoptera
  5. familySphingidae
  6. genusDeilephila
  7. SpeciesDeilephila elpenor Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms Chaerocampa elpenor, Chaerocampa lewisii, Deilephila alboradiata, Deilephila argentea, Deilephila celerio, Deilephila cinerescens, Deilephila clara, Deilephila daubi, Deilephila distincta, Deilephila elenor, Deilephila hades, Deilephila lewisi, Deilephila lugens, Deilephila obsoleta, Deilephila pallida, Deilephila philippsi, Deilephila porcus, Deilephila scheidenbaueri, Deilephila szechuana, Deilephila tristis, Deilephila unicolor, Deilephila vautrini, Deilephila virgata, Deilephila vitis, Pergesa elpenor, Pergesia elpenor, Sphinx elpenor, Sphinx porcus

Other names and names in other languages (22)
  • Elephant hawk-mothEnglish
  • lišaj vrbkovýCzech
  • Gwalch-Wyfyn HelyglysWelsh
  • DueurtsværmerDanish
  • Mittlerer WeinschwärmerGerman
  • horsmakiitäjäFinnish
  • sphinx de la vigneFrench
  • cù-fionna ailbheanachScottish Gaelic
  • פיל עש-הנץHebrew
  • sfinge della viteItalian
  • stor snabelsvermerNorwegian Bokmål
  • Groot avondroodDutch
  • stor snabelsvermarNorwegian Nynorsk
  • zmrocznik gładyszekPolish
  • allmän snabelsvärmareSwedish
  • 紅天蛾Chinese
  • Gwalch-Wyfynod HelyglysWelsh
  • Dueurt-dæmringssværmerDanish
  • Dueurt-sværmerDanish
  • Stor dueurtsværmerDanish
  • Grand Sphinx de la Vigne (Le)French
  • större snabelsvärmareSwedish

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the elephant hawk

Other species in the same genus Deilephila.

CompareElephant hawk vs Small elephant hawkmothElephant hawk vs Deilephila askoldensisElephant hawk vs Deilephila rivularis

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the elephant hawk an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the elephant hawk as introduced in 1 country: Canada, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the elephant hawk?

The elephant hawk (Deilephila elpenor) belongs to the family Sphingidae in the order Lepidoptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Elephant hawk (Deilephila elpenor). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/elephant-hawk

MLA

“Elephant hawk (Deilephila elpenor).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/elephant-hawk.

BibTeX
@misc{elephant_hawk_2026,
  title = {Elephant hawk (Deilephila elpenor)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/elephant-hawk},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}