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A large ( 6.2 - 9.0 cm. wingspan) narrow-winged heavy bodied moth with a striped forewing and pink hindwing. The forewing is dark black-brown with the costa a lighter olive brown, a blue-grey terminal band and a longitudinal pale yellow-brown stripe. The veins are outlined in white scales. The hindwing is bright pink, with a black basal area and a black terminal band. Both sexes are similar. The white veins of the forewing separate it from the other species of Hyles. Royal Alberta Museum page

Adults are on the wing from mid-summer to early fall. Although mainly nocturnal and attracted to light, they can also be found visiting flowers at during the day or at dusk. The White-lined sphinx is mainly a southern species, which moves northward each year, and probably does not overwinter in Alberta. Earlier arrivals from the south appear to produce a generation that make up most of the specimens that are found here. Numbers of adults as well as the distance north that specimens are found may vary greatly from year to year.

Polyphagous. A wide variety of herbs, shrubs and even trees in many families have been recorded as hosts. In Alberta it has been recorded as larvae on fireweed. Elsewhere, it has been found on apple, Amaranthus, beets, Brassica rapa, Chenopodium, lettuce, Evening Primrose (Oenothera) and many other plants (see Handfield, 1999 for a list). On the other hand, Native people in the American southwest considered the larvae a delicacy and used them in ceremonial stews.

North and South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. In North America, it occurs as a migrant north into southern Canada each year. In Alberta, it can be rather common some years in the south, and has been collected north to Edmonton and Jasper National Park.