CECHENENA AEGROTA (Butler, 1875)

Female Cechenena aegrota. Photo: © BMNH Male Cechenena aegrota. Photo: © BMNH

TAXONOMY

Pergesa aegrota Butler, 1875, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1875: 246. Type locality: [Bangladesh,] Silhet [Sylhet].


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Resting Cechenena aegrota, Hong Kong, China. Photo: © Roger Kendrick

Wingspan: 80--100mm. This species is sexually dichromatic, with females being darker and browner than the males.


ADULT BIOLOGY


FLIGHT-TIME

China: iii-xii (Hong Kong).

Kendrick (2002) states that this common species is multivoltine in Hong Kong, occurring from March until December, with a main peak in April.


EARLY STAGES

OVUM:

LARVA:


Larva of Cechenena chimaera, Bintulu Div., Sarawak, Malaysia. Photo: © Leong Tzi Ming

PUPA:


Pupa of Cechenena chimaera, Bintulu Div., Sarawak, Malaysia. Photo: © Leong Tzi Ming

Larval hostplants. Psychotria.


PARASITOIDS


LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

China: Hong Kong (Kowloon); Hainan (Jianfeng).


GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Nepal, northeast India (Sikkim, Meghalaya), Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos, southern China (Hainan, Hong Kong) and Vietnam. Adults resembling C. aegrota from Malaysia (Peninsular, Sarawak), Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan) and Palawan Island are now known to be the distinct species C. chimaera (Rothschild, 1894).


Global distribution of Cechenena aegrota. Map: © BMNH.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION


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