Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Sphingidae Scientific name Nephele hespera | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Nephele Rank Species | |
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Similar Nephele, Nephele subvaria, Macroglossum belis, Marumba dyras, Hippotion rosetta | ||
Nephele hespera (crepuscular hawkmoth) is a sphingid moth found in the tropical and subtropical forests of Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Burma Myanmar, southern China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Description
The wingspan is 70–86 mm. The silver markings on the wings can be present or absent in both sexes. It differs from nearly all other Nephele species in the apical hindtibial spurs having only a few, rather thin, distally situated spines. The hind basitarsal comb is less developed than in African species of Nephele.
Head, thorax and abdomen olive-brown or green in color. Abdomen is with lateral black segmental bands. Fore wings are olive-brown or green, with six faint waved lines and an angled submarginal line. The space between it and outer margin is paler. At the end of the cell, there are two conspicuous silvery shite spots, which may be reduced to a small speck or be altogether obsolete. Hind wings are reddish brown and cilia are ochreous. Ventral side is paler, each wing with two transverse lines. Larva is greenish with a pale stripe from 7th to 11th somites.
The larvae feed on Carissa congesta. Pupa is bone-yellow in color. The moth rests with the wings held horizontal and the tip of the abdomen slightly upturned.