CECHENENA AEGROTA (Butler, 1875) -- Mottled green hawkmoth

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

TAXONOMY

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

Synonym. Pergesa aegrota Butler, 1875.

Synonym. Cechenena albicosta Tutt, 1904.

Synonym. Cechenena aegrota occidentalis Clark, 1935.


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Wingspan: 80--100mm. This species is sexually dichromatic, with females being darker and browner than the males. In the male, forewing upperside ground colour yellowish-buff; subbasal and antemedian lines clearly marked; apex with a black spot that continues as a serrate line across veins Rs4 and M1, then expands into a comma-shaped mark between veins M1 and M2. Forewing underside beige with a blackish basal area. Hindwing upperside dark brown; median band dirty yellow, extending from costa to tornus without any reduction in width along its length; costa pure yellow along entire length. Underside of body beige with a slight greenish tone. Underside of abdomen with a series of paired small black spots on segments 2-7. Female similar to the male but wings more rounded, forewing upperside pattern generally less marked and abdomen fatter.

In the male genitalia, uncus similar to Rhagastis velata. Gnathos similar to Rhagastis velata. Harpe thick and very short, apically produced as a sharply pointed upcurved hook. Phallus apically rounded and lacking a transverse process; instead it bears a distal field of sharp deciduous spicules and apically there are 5-7 shorter points.


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

ADULT BIOLOGY


FLIGHT-TIME

China: iii-xii (Hong Kong); iv (Yunnan); 13.vi (Guangxi); vi-vii (Yunnan).

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:

Unrecorded.

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

Unknown.


LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

China: Yunnan (Simao/Pu'er; Lincan Co., Daxueshan; Zhaotong); Hong Kong (Kowloon); Guangxi (Longtan National Forest Park, nr Guiping); Hainan (Jianfeng).


GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Nepal, northeast India (Sikkim, Meghalaya), Bhutan (Irungbam & Irungbam, 2019), Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos, southern China (Hainan, Hong Kong) and Vietnam (Le & Vu, 2024). [Adults resembling Cechenena aegrota from Malaysia (Peninsular, Sarawak), Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan) and Palawan Island are now known to be the distinct species Cechenena chimaera (Rothschild, 1894).]


Global distribution of Cechenena aegrota. Map: © NHMUK.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION



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