Acherontia styx Westwood

Sphinx (Acherontia) styx Westwood, 1844, Cabinet Orient. Ent., p. 88.

Acherontia styx Westwood; Rothschild & Jordan, 1903: 21.

Acherontia medusa Butler, 1876, Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., 9: 597.

Diagnosis

See Acherontia lachesis Fabricius.

Taxonomic Notes

Bornean material is referable to ssp. medusa Butler.

Geographical range

Oriental Region to S. Moluccas.

Habitat preference

The species is very much rarer than its congener.

In recent surveys three specimens only have been taken, in a vegetable growing area at Bundu Tuhan on G. Kinabalu (1200m).

Biology

Dupont & Roepke (1941) stated the larva to be green or greyish brown in Java, the horn less recurved than in lachesis. In India the green form is much commoner than yellow or brown forms (Bell & Scott, 1937); the thoracic segments are yellower than the rest, the coloration similar to that of lachesis. In India the green form is much commoner than yellow or brown forms (Bell & Scott, 1937); the thoracic segments are yellower than the rest, the coloration similar to that of lachesis. Recorded host-plants (Bell & Scott, 1937; Browne, 1968; Pholboon, 1965; Yunus & Ho, 1980; Miyata, 1983) are: Nerium (Apocynaceae); Bignonia, Pyrostegia, Spathodea, Tecoma (Bignoniaceae); Porana (Convolvulaceae); Coccinia (Cucurbitaceae); Coleus (Labiatae); Dolichos, Erythrina, Glycine, Psophocarpus, (Leguminosae); Eugenia, Syzygium (Myrtaceae); Jasminum, Nycthanthes (Oleaceae); Sesamum (Pedaliaceae); Gardenia (Rubiaceae); Capsicum, Datura, Nicotiana, Physaliastrum, Solanum (Solanaccae); Citharexylum, Clerodendrum, Tectona, Vitex (Verbenaceae).