Basiothia medea

Small verdant hawk
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Sphingidae
Genus: Basiothia
Species:
B. medea
Binomial name
Basiothia medea
(Fabricius, 1781)[1]
Synonyms
  • Sphinx medea Fabricius, 1781
  • Sphinx minus Fabricius, 1787
  • Sphinx idrieus Drury, 1782
  • Sphinx clio Fabricius, 1793
  • Sphinx onothberina Martyn, 1797
  • Choerocampa transfigurata Wallengren, 1860
  • Basiothia nigrita Clark, 1920
  • Basiothia idricus Walker, 1856

Basiothia medea, the small verdant hawk, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It is common in open habitats throughout the Ethiopian Region, including Madagascar. It is however probably absent from the equatorial forest belt, except as a vagrant. The species is an active migrant.[2]

The length of the forewings is 22–25 mm and the wingspan is 49–63 mm.

The larvae feed on Spermacoce natalensis, Dioda, Spermacoce, Pentas and Pentasinia species.[3]

References

  1. ^ "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-12-20. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
  2. ^ Carcasson, R. H. (1967). "Revised Catalogue of the African Sphingidae (Lepidoptera) with Descriptions of the East African species". Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society and National Museum. 26 (3): 1–173 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  3. ^ De Prins, J. & De Prins, W. (2018). "Basiothia medea (Fabricius, 1781)". Afromoths. Retrieved December 5, 2018.


Stub icon

This Macroglossini-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.