Philampelus naga Moore, [1858], in Horsfield & Moore, Cat. lepid. Insects Mus. Hon. East-India Company 1: 271. Type locality: [India, West Bengal,] Darjeeling [Darling].
Wingspan: 86--112mm.
China: v (Zhejiang); vi (Yunnan). Taiwan: iii-v (Kaohsiung Hsien); vi (Hualien Hsien). Japan: 30.iii (Kyushu); 25.iv (Honshu); 3-31.v (Honshu); 17.vi (Honshu); 20.vi (Ryukyu Archipelago); vi-vii (Hokkaido).
In northern China there is one generation per year, with adults flying between April and June (Yang, 1978).
Park et al. (1999) give early May until mid August as the flight period in Korea.
OVUM: A deep rich green, becoming whitish before hatching, almost spherical, smooth (Bell & Scott, 1937).
LARVA: Full-fed 80--100mm. Dichromatic: green or brown. According to Bell & Scott (1937), in the first instar, the head and body are green, the horn black, long and straight. In the second instar, thoracic segment 1 is as narrow as the head, with the body tapering sharply anteriorly from the first abdominal segment. The black horn is still long and straight, but reddish at the base and with a white tip. The head and anal segments are yellow, the body green dotted with white, with the spiracle of abdominal segment 1 surrounded by a black spot. A yellow dorso-lateral stripe runs from the head to the horn. This colour pattern remains the same for the next two instars, but a lateral flange develops on the third thoracic and first abdominal segments and a yellow ventro-lateral stripe appears on the thoracic segments and abdominal segment 1. In the final instar of the green form, the head is grass-green, with a narrow, pale yellowish dorso-lateral stripe and a broader stripe of the same colour separating face from cheek; thoracic segments 1 and 2 grass-green with short darker stripes; the rest of the body bluish green, mottled with yellow above the dorso-lateral stripe and pale greyish blue below. The dorso-lateral stripe is narrow and white on thoracic segments 1 and 2, broader and pale yellow on thoracic segment 3 and abdominal segment 1, then white to the base of the horn, and edged narrowly above with orange on segments 3--7. The narrow, white ventro-lateral stripe on thoracic segments 1 and 2 becomes broad and yellow as it outlines the flange before turning upwards on abdominal segment 1 to form an oblique stripe. There are also pale yellow, oblique lateral stripes on segments 1--7. The horn is lilac-grey dotted with purple. There are dark purple patches on the body above the bases of the legs, increasing in size caudally, and extending along the lower edge of the flange on thoracic segment 3 and abdominal segment 1. Upper part of prolegs bluish, the lower part pale yellow; feet brown, anal clasper bluish, anal flap edged broadly with pale yellow. Spiracles deep orange. In the brown form the green pigmentation is replaced by pinkish brown. The whole body is smooth and moderately shiny.
At rest on the underside of a leaf or stem, the larva throws back its head and anterior segments in a sharp curve, the head held so that the face is in the same plane as the dorsum of thoracic segment 1. The thoracic legs are pressed close to the body and the flange is dilated laterally. Alarmed larvae withdraw their heads and first two thoracic segments into segment 3; thoracic segment 3 and abdominal segment 1 are puffed out and the flanges further dilated.
PUPA: 44--55mm long, 15mm wide. Very similar in shape to Clarina but colour of dorsum dark brown, sides and venter paler brown, abdomen marked with short darker stripes and pits dark brown. There is a pale brown patch in front of the eye; hind bevels of segments 8 to 11 dark brown; spiracles black ringed by dark brown; cremaster nearly black. Shape as in other Acosmeryx pupae, with the hind margin of segment 11 deeply undercut. Surface shiny, shallowly but coarsely pitted on segments 4 to 7 and 12 to 14. Segment 2 is finely, irregularly, longitudinally striate. Segment 8 with a patch behind the spiracle, finely, regularly, transversely striate. Front bevels of 9 to 11 finely pitted; rest of pupa smooth. Spiracle of segment 2 covered by a narrow transverse lobe projecting from the front margin of 3, the front edge of the lobe sharply raised. The remaining spiracles are shortly oval, flush, the edges of the: central slit raised. Cremaster small (2mm), basal half bulbous, distal half a cylindrical shaft ending in two small hooks. Dorsal surface of basal half honeycombed, shaft smooth (Bell & Scott, 1937).
Formed in a slight cocoon on the ground. Very sensitive to desiccation (Shchetkin, 1956), but highly tolerant of moisture. The overwintering stage.
Larval hostplants. Vitis and Ampelopsis (both Vitaceae). In Shanxi also recorded from Actinidia chinensis (Li & Guo, 1990).
Recorded in Korea on Stathmopoda auriferella, Ampelopsis brevipedunculata and Vitis vinifera (Vitaceae) (Park et al., 1999).
Unknown.
China: Hebei; Beijing (Baihua Shan); Shanxi (Taiyuan; Xiaxian); Shaanxi; Zhejiang (Tianmu Shan); Hubei (Badong); Sichuan (Pengshui; Wulong); Chongqing (Fengjie); Yunnan (nr. Yingjiang, 1180-2080m); Guizhou (Jiucai Ling); Tibet/Xizang (Mutu, Namjagbarwa region, 850m; Zhangmu, 2200m); Hunan (Dayong); Guangdong; Hainan.
Taiwan: Hualien Hsien (Taroko National Park); Kaohsiung Hsien (Shanping; nr. Tuona, 15km SE of Shanping, 1050m); Taipei Hsien (Fushan).
South Korea: Widespread in Seoul; Kyonggi Prov.; Kangwon Prov.; North Chungchong Prov.; South Chungchong Prov.; North Cholla Prov.; South Cholla Prov.; North Kyongsang Prov.; South Kyongsang Prov.; Cheju Prov.
Japan: Hokkaido (Hakodate; Sapporo); Honshu (Tokyo; Kiyosato, 1300m; Mikaboyama, 750m; ); Shikoku; Kyushu (Nishinakama); Ryukyu Archipelago (Okinawa; Miyakoshima).
Russia: Primorskiy Kray (Khasan).
As subsp. naga, the Himalayan foothills of Pakistan, India, Nepal (Haruta, 1992) and China (Bell & Scott, 1937). Also Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, northern Vietnam (Sa Pa), most of eastern and southern China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan (D'Abrera, 1986). A single migrant has been reported from the Russian Far East.
As subsp. hissarica, only southern Tajikistan (Shchetkin, 1949; Shchetkin, 1956; Derzhavets, 1984) and Afghanistan (Ebert, 1969; Daniel, 1971; C. M. Naumann, pers. comm.).
Holarctic; eastern Palaearctic region. Pleistocene refuge: Polycentric.
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