Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Sphingidae Scientific name Hippotion velox | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Hippotion Rank Species | |
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Similar Hippotion, Hippotion rosetta, Hippotion boerhaviae, Hippotion celerio, Macroglossum corythus | ||
Hippotion velox (dark striated hawkmoth, ) is a species of Sphingid moth or the family Sphingidae. It is found throughout the Indo-Australian tropics of India, Sri Lanka and east to Fiji and New Caledonia, north to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Sumatra southern Japan and northern Australia from Western Australia to Queensland.
Description
The wingspan is 54–76 mm. The head and thorax are brown in color with pale lateral streaks. Abdomen is brown with numerous dark strigae and pairs of pale lateral striage on each segment. Fore wings are brown without any silvery makings, thus differ from T. celerio. Hind wings are smoky brown in color with traces of a darker submarginal line.
The final instar occurs in two forms, green and dark. Larvae are pale green or brown with dorsal black dots. There is an ocellus on 4th somite which is blue centered with yellow in the green form. Ochreous black ring is present in brown form. There is a subdorsal line from 5th to 11th somite. Horn is purplish in the green form. Pupa is bone colored, closely spotted and speckled with brown and some black dots.
The larvae have been recorded on Araceae, Convolvulaceae, Nyctaginaceae and Rubiaceae species, including Ipomoea, Boerhavia and Morinda species.