Rhagastis olivacea

Rhagastis olivacea, the olive mottled hawkmoth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae.

Rhagastis olivacea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Sphingidae
Genus: Rhagastis
Species:
R. olivacea
Binomial name
Rhagastis olivacea
(Moore, 1872)[1]
Synonyms
  • Pergesa olivacea Moore, 1872

Distribution

It is found from north-western India across Nepal, northern Myanmar, northern Thailand and southern China to northern Vietnam.[2]

Description

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
  1. "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-10-24. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
  2. Pittaway, A. R.; Kitching, I. J. (2018). "Rhagastis olivacea (Moore, 1872) -- Olive mottled hawkmoth". Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  3. 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.


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