Macroglossum sylvia Boisduval

Macroglossa sylvia Boisduval, 1875, Hist. nat. Insectes, Spec. Gen. Lep., 1: 350.

Macroglossum sylvia Boisduval; Rothschild & Jordan, 1903: 658.

Diagnosis

The species is very similar to corythus externally, perhaps slightly greener over the thorax.

The character of restriction of the yellow dorsal zone of the hindwing below mentioned by various authors is not reliable.

The species is best distinguished by the male genitalia where the harpe is short, apically expanded, and the aedeagus vesica has two blunt, rodlike processes rather than broad, almost triangular ones, the largest apically acute (corythus).

Taxonomic Notes

The type is from Ternate (Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh) and has a somewhat more variegated marginal zone than Sundanian specimens.

The species is treated here in the sense of Rothschild & Jordan (1903) and Dupont & Roepke (1941).

Geographical range

Sundaland, east to New Guinea.

Habitat preference

The specimen illustrated is from Bidi in the lowlands of Sarawak.

No material taken in recent surveys can be associated reliably with sylvia, though a female from Labi in Brunei (lowland rainforest) may be this species (Harman, 1981).

Genitalia: