AMBULYX KUANGTUNGENSIS (Mell, 1922)

Male Ambulyx kuangtungensis. Photo: © BMNH. Male Ambulyx kuangtungensis f. adhemariusa, Luoyang, Henan, China. Photo: © Kenichiro Nakao.

TAXONOMY

Oxyambulyx kuangtungensis Mell, 1922, Dt. ent. Z. 1922: 114. Type locality: China, northwest Kwangtung [Guangdong].


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Resting Ambulyx kuangtungensis, Taiwan. Photo: © Felix Lin. Resting Ambulyx kuangtungensis, Taiwan. Photo: © Felix Lin. Resting Ambulyx kuangtungensis, Jiucai Ling, Guizhou, China. Photo: © Viktor Sinjaev.

Wingspan: 65--80mm.


ADULT BIOLOGY


FLIGHT-TIME

China: vi (Laojun Shan, Yunnan); viii (Guangze, Fujian); 20-23.ix (Baoshan, Yunnan); ix (Xunyang, Shaanxi); 15.ix (Xishuangbanna, Yunnan); 27.ix (Lijiang, Yunnan). Taiwan: iii-vi (Hualien Hsien).


EARLY STAGES

OVUM:

LARVA:

PUPA:


Pupa of Ambulyx kuangtungensis. Image: Mell, 1922b Pupa of Ambulyx kuangtungensis. Image: Mell, 1922b

Larval hostplants. Recorded in Guangdong on Choerospondias axillaris (as Poupartia fordii) (Anacardiaceae) (Mell, 1922b). A record on Aceraceae (Chang, 1989) may be an erroneous transferred record from another Ambulyx species and requires confirmation.


PARASITOIDS

Unknown.


LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

China: Shaanxi (Xunyang, 1380m); Gansu; Henan (Luoyang, 1763m); Zhejiang; Hubei; Sichuan; Yunnan (Lijiang, 2700m; Xishuangbanna, 700m; Laojun Shan, 2579m; Baoshan, 1000-1500m); Xizang/Tibet; Guizhou (Jiucai Ling); Fujian (Guangze, 1200m); Guangdong (Meixian); Guangxi.

Taiwan: Hualien Hsien (Taroko National Park); Nantou Hsien (Puli).


GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Besides southern China, it is also found in northern Thailand, northern Vietnam and Taiwan.


Global distribution of Ambulyx kuangtungensis. Map: © BMNH.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION

Holarctic; eastern Palaearctic region. Pleistocene refuge: Monocentric -- Yunnan refugium.


Return to Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic species list
© A.R. Pittaway & I.J. Kitching (The Natural History Museum, London)