Elephant Hawk Moth (Deilephila elpenor)

The name belongs to the caterpillar, not the moth. Its front end tapers and retracts into a swollen thorax, giving it the look of a small trunk - and when threatened it inflates that section to display large false eyespots, producing a passable snake's face. It reaches eight centimetres and darkens from green to brown as it matures.

The adult is one of the most colourful moths in Britain: olive and pink, almost tropical-looking, hovering at honeysuckle and valerian on warm evenings from late May to August.

Its eyes are the other remarkable thing. They are large and sensitive enough to resolve colour by starlight, which very few animals of any kind can do, and the strong hovering flight makes it an efficient nocturnal pollinator. The species is widespread across Europe and into temperate Asia.

A vector illustration of the elephant hawk moth in dorsal view, drawn for the Bugs series of insect art prints.

Bugs is a collection of natural history illustration prints drawn from the insect world - beetles, flies, bugs, butterflies, and moths selected for the strangeness, beauty, and variety of their forms.

Each illustration is adapted from Simon Tyler's book Bugs, published by Pavilion in 2017 and subsequently published in French and Chinese. The series draws on the tradition of scientific natural history illustration - precise, considered, and attentive to the details that make each species distinctive.

Insects account for the majority of all known animal species on Earth. This collection is a small survey of what that diversity looks like.

All prints are produced to order on 250gsm archival matte paper using pigment-based inks, chosen for colour accuracy and long-term stability.

Each print is rolled in acid-free tissue and shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, sealed for moisture protection, ready for framing on arrival.

Large · 70 × 50 cm · 28 × 20 in

XLarge · 100 × 70 cm · 40 × 28 in

UK: Free · 3-5 working days

Europe: €8.50 · 3-7 working days · No customs charges

USA & Canada: $8.95 / $12.00 CAD · 5-10 working days

Australia: $14.00 AUD · 5-10 working days

Rest of World: £14.95 · 7-14 working days

All prints are produced to order and dispatched within 1-3 working days. Orders placed before 5pm GMT ship the same day. You'll receive tracking information by email once dispatched.

Orders outside Europe may be subject to local customs charges on delivery - these are the responsibility of the recipient.

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Returns accepted within 30 days. Email returns@axisophy.com with your order number and we'll provide return instructions.

Return postage is the customer's responsibility except where the print arrives damaged or there's been an error - in which case we'll arrange a replacement or refund immediately, no return needed.

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