Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Sphingidae Scientific name Nephele peneus | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Nephele Rank Species | |
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Similar Nephele funebris, Nephele aequivalens, Nephele comma, Nephele, Cyligramma | ||
Nephele peneus is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It is known from forests and woodland from Senegal to East Africa, Angola and Delagoa Bay.
The length of the forewings is 33–40 mm. All abdominal segments are marked with broad blackish spots separated by a pale brownish buff band at the posterior margin. The olive dorsal spots are rather wide. The forewings are broad, with an evenly rounded termen. They are olive grey, banded and mottled with blackish and sometimes ochreous. The submarginal band is very irregular and indistinct. The silvery white stigma consists of a small anterior comma and of a wide angled V shape. In some specimens, the arms of the V do not meet at the apex and the stigma then consists of three spots. Occasional specimens without the stigma are referable to form innotata.
The larvae feed on an unidentified Asclepiadoideae creeper. They have an olive coloured head with a darker line on each cheek with a paler one behind it. The body is olive-green. The pupa is made in a slight cocoon in surface litter. It is dark dull chestnut, with a blackish dorsal line.