AMBULYX ZHEJIANGENSIS Brechlin, 2009

Ambulyx zhejiangensis. (A, B) Male, Yintiaoling Nature Reserve, Wuxi County, Chongqing, China; (C, D) Female, Dabashan, central China. Photo: © Sphingidae Museum, Czech Republic. Female Ambulyx zhejiangensis, Yu-Shan-Wu, Anji County, Zhejiang Province, China, 2-10.vi.1999 [HOLOTYPE]. Photo: © Ronald Brechlin. Female Ambulyx zhejiangensis, Yu-Shan-Wu, Anji County, Zhejiang Province, China, 2-10.vi.1999. Photo: © Jean Haxaire, leg. Tomas Melichar.

TAXONOMY

Ambulyx zhejiangensis Brechlin, 2009, Entomo-Satsphingia 2(2): 50. Type locality: China, Zhejian Province, Anji County, Yu-Shan-Wu.

Note. Specific status confirmed by DNA studies within the BOLD Project of the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Canada (BC-RBP 1787) (Brechlin, 2009).


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Wingspan: 106mm. Forewing elongate with a weakly falcate tip. Ground colour relatively homogeneous greyish-brown. Grey submarginal area evenly bowed. Basal and costal dark spots present, but small. Hindwings pale orange with a distinct dark margin and one bold transverse central bar. Rest of the orange area weakly or strongly spotted (Brechlin, 2009).

Male genitalia similar to Ambulyx kuangtungensis, with a more rounded valve. Sacculus heavier and broader, dorsal margin with a broad, bluntly pointed, triangular lobe, harpe strongly narrowed basally, apex a thick sharp downwards-directed hook. Phallus slender, posterior lobe slender, straight and apically sharply pointed, with a few large teeth ventrally (Jiang, Kitching, Xu, Xu, Yan, Yu, Liu & Hu, 2025).


Ambulyx zhejiangensis, Yintiaoling Nature Reserve, Wuxi County, Chongqing, China, 10.iv.2022. Photo: © QianLe Lu.

ADULT BIOLOGY

A montane species.


FLIGHT-TIME

China: 10.iv (Chongqing); 2-10.vi (Zhejiang).


EARLY STAGES

OVUM: Unknown.

LARVA: Unknown.

PUPA: Unknown.

Larval hostplants. Unknown.


PARASITOIDS

Unknown.


LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

China: Shaanxi/Sichuan border (Daba Shan); Chongqing (Yintiaoling Nature Reserve; Wuxi County); Zhejiang (Yu-Shan-Wu, Tianmu Shan); Hubei.


GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Endemic to eastern China (Zhejiang, Chongqing, and along the Shaanxi/Sichuan border).


Global distribution of Ambulyx zhejiangensis. Map: © Jiang et al., 2025.

Map: Distribution of assorted species of Ambulyx from China: Ambulyx substrigilis (purple dotted line); Ambulyx siamensis (ochre squares); Ambulyx liturata (blue dotted line); Ambulyx moorei (red dotted line); Ambulyx canescens (green dotted line); Ambulyx ochracea (yellow patch); Ambulyx maculifera (black triangles); and Ambulyx zhejiangensis (pink triangles). (© Jiang, Kitching, Xu, Xu, Yan, Yu, Liu & Hu, 2025).


BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION

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


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