Rhagastis olivacea
Appearance
Rhagastis olivacea | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Sphingidae |
Genus: | Rhagastis |
Species: | R. olivacea
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Binomial name | |
Rhagastis olivacea | |
Synonyms | |
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Rhagastis olivacea, the olive mottled hawkmoth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae.
Distribution
[edit]It is found from north-western India across Nepal, northern Myanmar, northern Thailand and southern China to northern Vietnam.[2]
Description
[edit]The wingspan is 72–92 mm. It can be distinguished from all other Rhagastis species by the yellowish-green ground colour of the forewing upperside with narrow and indistinct reddish transverse lines and bands, and a shuttle-shaped marginal area bordered irregularly with bluish-white scales, most strongly at the apex and tornus.
Adults are lachryphagous (meaning they drink tears).[3]
Larvae have been recorded feeding on Impatiens species in India.
References
[edit]- ^ "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-10-24. Retrieved 2011-10-25. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Pittaway, A. R.; Kitching, I. J. (2018). "Rhagastis olivacea (Moore, 1872) -- Olive mottled hawkmoth". Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
- ^ Bänziger, H. 1992. Remarkable new cases of moths drinking human tears in Thailand (Lepidoptera: Thyatiridae, Sphingidae, Notodontidae). Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society 40: 91–102.