Oleander Hawk Moth
| Daphnis nerii | |
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| Female in Mangaon, Maharashtra, India | |
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| Fully grown caterpillar | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Sphingidae |
| Genus: | Daphnis |
| Species: | D. nerii |
| Binomial name | |
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Daphnis nerii (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| Distribution: blue -= summer, green = year round | |
| Synonyms | |
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Daphnis nerii, the oleander hawk-moth or army green moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
Daphnis nerii is a large hawk-moth found in wide areas of Africa, Asia and certain Hawaiian Islands. It is a migratory species, flying to parts of eastern and southern Europe during the summer, particularly Turkey.
The adults feed on nectar of a great variety of flowers. They have a preference for fragrant species like petunia, jasmine and honeysuckle. They are especially active in the twilight time, hovering over the flowers after sunset.
The caterpillars feed mainly on oleander (Nerium oleander) leaves, a highly toxic plant, to which the caterpillars are immune. They also may feed on most plants of the dogbane family, such as Adenium obesum, Tabernaemontana divaricata and Alstonia scholaris in India.
Newly hatched oleander hawk-moth larvae are three to four millimeters in length, bright yellow, and have a black, elongated "horn" on the rear of the body. As they get older, the larvae become green to brown with a large blue-and-white eyespot near the head and a yellow "horn" on the rear. There is also a white band along the side of the body, with a scattering of small white and bluish dots alongside it. The spiracles on the sides of the body are black. Older oleander hawk-moth larvae measure around 7.5 to 8.5 centimetres in length.
Just before it pupates, the oleander hawk-moth larva becomes browner in colour. The pupa of this species measures around 5.5 to 7.5 centimetres in length, and is light brown with black spots and a black line down the middle.
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Wikipedia