Rhagastis olivacea explained

Rhagastis olivacea, the olive mottled hawkmoth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae.

Distribution

It is found from north-western India across Nepal, northern Myanmar, northern Thailand and southern China to northern Vietnam.[1]

Description

The wingspan is 72–92 mm. It can be distinguished from all other Rhagastis species by the yellowish-green ground colour of the forewing upperside with narrow and indistinct reddish transverse lines and bands, and a shuttle-shaped marginal area bordered irregularly with bluish-white scales, most strongly at the apex and tornus.

Adults are lachryphagous (meaning they drink tears).[2]

Larvae have been recorded feeding on Impatiens species in India.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Pittaway . A. R. . Kitching . I. J. . 2018 . Rhagastis olivacea (Moore, 1872) -- Olive mottled hawkmoth . Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic . December 17, 2018.
  2. Bänziger, H. 1992. Remarkable new cases of moths drinking human tears in Thailand (Lepidoptera: Thyatiridae, Sphingidae, Notodontidae). Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society 40: 91–102.