Hippotion eson

Hippotion eson
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Sphingidae
Genus: Hippotion
Species: H. eson
Binomial name
Hippotion eson
(Cramer, 1779)[1]
Synonyms
  • Sphinx eson Cramer, 1779

Hippotion eson is a moth of the Sphingidae family. It is very common in most habitats throughout the Ethiopian Region, including Madagascar and the Seychelles. It is a migratory species.[2]

The length of the forewings is 32–40 mm and the wingspan is 74–84 mm. The head and thorax are light brown, edged with white laterally. The abdomen is slightly paler, with numerous faint darker longitudinal lines on the dorsum and a broader, indistinct golden line on each side. The forewings are light brown with several darker almost straight marginal and diagonal lines meeting at the apex. There is a very small black stigma. The hindwings are red with an irregular black spot at the base and black at the costa. The tornus is fawn, the marginal band narrow, light brown and fading towards the tornus.

The larvae are polyphagous, they feed a large variety of leaves including Zantedeschia aethiopica, Impatiens balsamina (Balsaminaceae), Vigna sp. (Fabaceae).

References

  1. "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
  2. "Revised Catalogue of the African Sphingidae (Lepidoptera) with Descriptions of the East African species" (PDF). Biodiversitylibrary.org. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
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