Polyptychus

Taxobox

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image_caption = Polyptychus carteri
regnum = Animalia
phylum =
classis =
ordo =
familia =
genus =
genus_authority =
subdivision_ranks =
subdivision = * "Polyptychus affinis"
* "Polyptychus carteri"
* "Polyptychus chinensis"
* "Polyptychus dentatus"
* "Polyptychus trilineatus"
* and around 24 others

"Polyptychus" is a type of moth in the family Sphingidae. These middle-sized, light-brown moths are found in Africa and Southeast Asia.

Appearance

Middle-sized to large (wing span 65 - 120 mm), light brown hawk moth. The head is unusually large in the Smerinthinae, with the back of the body long and cylindrical.

Life

These moths fly at night and do not visit flowers, and they don't particularly seek out light. In all cases, they lay their larvae in the plants of the Boraginaceae family.

Systematic classification

* Order moths, Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758
** Glossata
*** Coelolepida
**** Myoglossata
*****Neolepidoptera
******Heteroneura
******* Eulepidoptera
******** Ditrysia
*********Apoditrysia
********** Macrolepidoptera
*********** Bombycoidea
************ Family Sphingidae
************* Subfamily Smerinthinae
************** Genus "Polyptychus" Hübner, 1819 - around 30 types, Africa and Southeast Asia
*************** "Polyptychus affinis" Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 - Afrika
*************** "Polyptychus carteri" (Butler, 1882) - West Africa
*************** "Polyptychus chinensis" Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 - Central and Southwest China, Taiwan, Ryukyu Islands
*************** "Polyptychus dentatus" (Cramer, 1777) - Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan
*************** "Polyptychus trilineatus" Moore, 1888 - India - Vietnam and South China

Reference

* Pittaway, A.R. (2007) Sphingidae of the Eastern Palearctic [http://tpittaway.tripod.com/china/china.htm]