ACHERONTIA LACHESIS (Fabricius, 1798)

Female Acherontia lachesis. Photo: © BMNH. Male Acherontia lachesis. Photo: © BMNH.

TAXONOMY

Sphinx lachesis Fabricius, 1798, Suppl. Ent. Syst.: 434. Type locality: "India orientali".


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Wingspan: 100--132mm.


Resting adult of Acherontia lachesis, Thailand. Photo: © Ian Kitching. Resting adult of Acherontia lachesis, Mt. HuangShan, Anhui, China. Photo: © Tony Pittaway. Resting adult of Acherontia lachesis, Taiwan. Photo: © Felix Lin.

ADULT BIOLOGY

The moth rests with the wings folded penthouse-wise, covering the abdomen completely. When disturbed it raises the body from the surface on which it is sitting, at the same time partially opening and raising the wings, and emitting a squealing note. Mell states that this moth enters bee-hive, to steal the honey, as in the case of Acherontia atropos. It comes to light freely (Bell & Scott, 1937).


FLIGHT-TIME

China: v-vi (Guangdong); vi (Hong Kong; Sichuan; Yunnan; Zhejiang); vi-vii (Henan; Guizhou); vii (Shanghai); viii (Jiangxi; Fujian; Guangdong; Anhui); ix (Shaanxi). Taiwan: iv-v (Kaohsiung Hsien); vi (Hualien Hsien). Japan: 2-3.ix (Kyushu). Russia: 2.viii-7.ix (Primorskiy Kray).

Kendrick (2002) states that it is multivoltine in Hong Kong, occurring from March until October, with peaks in April, late July and late August.


EARLY STAGES

OVUM: Eggs laid singly on the underside of leaves of a great variety of hostplants belonging to the families Solanaceae, Verbenaceae, Fabaceae, Oleaceae, Bignoniaceae, Labiatae, etc. (Bell & Scott, 1937).

LARVA: Full-fed 95--125mm long, 15mm wide. Trichromatic, with green, yellow and brownish grey forms, the grey being the most common.

According to Bell & Scott (1937), in first instar, head and body pale yellow, horn black, long, straight, bifid. In the succeeding instars, head and body green, horn green. With growth, pale yellow oblique body stripes develop, as do pointed tubercles; the latter disappear in the fourth instar. A grey and a canary-yellow as well as the green form may appear in the third instar.

In the fifth instar, the head has a shiny surface covered sparsely with small, glassy tubercles, surrounded by groups of minute tubercles. It is broadly semi-elliptical with a flattened vertex; true clypeus about one-third length of head, basal angles broadly rounded; apex of false clypeus rounded, reaching to one-half length of head; labrum broader than clypeus, narrowing frontad to half the breadth of its base; ligula kidney-shaped. Eyes 1-4 equidistant, in a gentle curve, 6 in line with 3 and 4 and twice as far from 4 as 4 is from 3; 5 at right angles to the line 3, 4, 6, and about as far from 4 as 4 is from 6. Body tapering slightly frontad from segment 7; each secondary ring on 2-4 raised into a sharp ridge in the dorsal area, the anterior ring of 3 higher than the rest. Surface dull and smooth. Horn long, stout at base, tapering first gently, then more strongly, to a sharp point, basal half curved downwards and distal half strongly upwards, sometimes forming a complete ring; surface shiny and thickly set with large, conical tubercles.

In the brownish grey form the head is black or dark brown with a paler brown or white subdorsal stripe, and a similar stripe separating the face from the cheek, the two stripes meeting near vertex. There is a white dorsal stripe from vertex to apex of clypeus, thence running down each side of clypeus; clypeus white with black edges; labrum and ligula whitish; antennal basal segment white with the outer sides black, second segment brown, end segment pale pink; mandible shiny black. Body brownish grey or greenish grey, each hair rising from a dusky-coloured dot ringed with yellowish; a narrow, pure white dorsal stripe, a broad black subdorsal stripe and a broader white lateral stripe on segments 2-4, the subdorsal stripe crossed by a narrow white transverse stripe at the junctions of the secondary rings, all these stripes very sharply defined; a greyish-green saddle-shaped marking on 2, below the subdorsal stripe; seven whitish oblique stripes, edged above with purple on 5-11, that on 11 running across 12 to base of horn, the others are confined to one segment each. Horn of the body colour, true legs shiny black, prolegs smoky black, the feet with long black hooklets; clasper of the body colour, with a black triangular-shaped mark at the upper edge. Spiracles broadly oval velvet black with the upper and lower edges tipped with yellow (Bell & Scott, 1937).

In the green form the head is green with a broad, shiny black stripe down the cheek; body grass-green tinged with yellow and sparsely dotted with dark-green on the dorsum of segments 5-11; oblique stripes yellow edged above with broad purple; horn green with the tubercles paler green, prolegs and claspers green.

In the yellow form the head and body are bright canary-yellow with markings as in the green form.

The young larva eats the egg-shell after hatching and rests on the midrib or on a vein on the underside of a leaf. It usually eats the cast skin after moulting, rests in the typical 'Sphinx' attitude, and when molested throws the head and anterior segments of the body from side to side, at the same time making a rapidly repeated clicking noise, which appears to be produced by the mandibles. When ready to pupate it stops feeding for some days, and the dorsum becomes suffused with purplish (in the green form) or brown (in the brownish grey and yellow forms). It then leaves the hostplant and hurries along the ground in search of a suitable place to burrow in the earth, moving with a quick undulatory motion. The prolegs and claspers lose most of their grasping powers during this period. On finding a suitable place it pushes its head into the earth, buries itself in a few minutes, and makes an ovoid cell about 150mm under the surface of about 80 x 40mm, the inside smooth but not lined with silk (Bell & Scott, 1937).


Final instar green form larva of Acherontia lachesis, Hong Kong. Photo: © Roger Kendrick Final instar yellow form larva of Acherontia lachesis, Hong Kong. Photo: © Roger Kendrick Final instar green form larva of Acherontia lachesis, Taiwan. Photo: © Felix Lin. Final instar brown form larva of Acherontia lachesis. Image: Mell, 1922b

PUPA: 57--87mm long, 14mm wide. Colour deep chestnut, dorsum of segments 4-6 and cremaster nearly black; spiracles black. Stout in build, head broadly rounded; antenna shorter than fore leg; surface: smooth and shiny; base of tongue prominently raised, with a series of 12 short transverse ridges on each side resembling the teeth of a coarse file; sculpturing on segment 4 consisting of a raised, pear-shaped area on each side of the dorsal line the broad end laterad, the surface concave and dull and edged anteriorly sharp ridge; five well developed, parallel, antespiracular ridges on 9-11, the longest just in front of the spiracle and the others decreasing in length frontad. Spiracle of 2 covered by a transverse oblong lobe extending from the front margin of 3; remaining spiracles oval, the surface rising inwards to a more narrow oval containing the central slit, which has narrow, raised edges. Cremaster broadly triangular, the dorsal surface coarsely, longitudinally rugose, the tip ending, in two short teeth, each bearing a bristle (Bell & Scott, 1937).

The pupa is rather sluggish.


Pupa of Acherontia lachesis. Image: Mell, 1922b Pupa of Acherontia lachesis. Image: Mell, 1922b

Larval hostplants. In India on Erythrina, Jasminum, Solanum tuberosum, Nicotiana tabacum, Tectona grandis, Datura and other plants (Scott, F.B., 1941).

In Hong Kong mainly on Ipomoea batatas, Clerodendrum kaempferi (Kendrick, 2002) and Erythrina speciosa (David L. Mohn, pers. comm. 2005).


PARASITOIDS

Ichneumonidae: Amblyjoppa cognatoria (Smith), Quandrus pepsoides (Smith).


LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

China: Hebei; Beijing; Shandong; Shaanxi (Xunyang, 1380m); Henan (Luoshan, 350m); Jiangsu; Anhui (Mt. HuangShan); Shanghai (Jiading, 330m); Zhejiang (Lüsi; Tianmu Shan); Hubei (Xuan'en, 1650m; Hefeng, 800-1100m); Sichuan (Emei Shan, 1200m; Baoxing; Xiaolou; Kangding; Dadu He); Chongqing (Fengjie); Yunnan (Mengzi; Yanmen; Laojun Shan, 2579m; nr. Yingjiang, 2080m; nr. Lüchun, 1900m); south Xizang/Tibet (Zhangmu, 2200m); Guizhou (Shiqian, 700m); Hunan; Jiangxi (Jiujiang; Tiancun, nr. Xingguo); Fujian (Fuzhou; Liufang; Guangze, 1200m; Longqi Shan); Guangdong (Guangzhou); Hong Kong (North Point); Guangxi.

Taiwan: Hualien Hsien (Taroko National Park, 2000m); Kaohsiung Hsien (Shanping, 640m); Taipei Hsien (Fushan); Taipei (Yangmingshan).

Japan: Kyushu (Kagoshima; Setta; Hikosan); Ryukyu Archipelago (Okinawa).

Russia: Primorskiy Kray (Primorskiy).


GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Almost the entire Oriental Biogeographical Region, from India, Pakistan and Nepal to the Philippines, and from southern Japan and the southern Russian Far East to Indonesia (Moluccas, Papua Barat etc.).

It has recently become established on the Hawaiian Islands.


Global distribution of Acherontia lachesis. Map: © BMNH.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION



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© A.R. Pittaway & I.J. Kitching (The Natural History Museum, London)