DAPHNIS PLACIDA PLACIDA (Walker, 1856)

Female Daphnis placida placida. Photo: © BMNH Male Daphnis placida placida. Photo: © BMNH

TAXONOMY

Darapsa placida Walker, 1856, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus. 8: 186. Type locality: [Indonesia,] Samatra [Sumatra].


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Wingspan: 66--84mm.


ADULT BIOLOGY


FLIGHT-TIME

China: vii-viii (Hainan).


EARLY STAGES

OVUM:

LARVA: In the final instar, horn long, downcurved, tuberculate. A pale dorso-lateral stripe runs from segment 2 to base of horn and a pale line is present on the anal segment. Spiracles orange (Bell & Scott, 1937).

PUPA: More slender than that of D. hypothous. Cremaster almost identical. Colour tawny-ochraceous, spotted with black on abdomen (Bell & Scott, 1937).

Larval hostplants. Alstonia and Tabernaemontana (Apocynaceae) (Inoue, Kennett & Kitching, [1996] 1997).


PARASITOIDS

Unknown.

LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

China: Hainan (Chengmai).


GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Nicobar and Andaman Islands (Kailash Chandra & Rajan, 2004), Thailand, southern China (Hainan Island), Philippines, Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Bali, Flores, Timor), northern Australia, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands.


Global distribution of Daphnis p. placida. Map: © BMNH.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION


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