HYLES CHAMYLA (Denso, 1913)

Male Hyles chamyla, Hami/Kumul, Xinjiang, China. SYNTYPE. Photo: © BMNH Male Hyles chamyla, Hami/Kumul, Xinjiang, China. SYNTYPE. Photo: © BMNH

TAXONOMY

Celerio hippophaes chamyla Denso, 1913, Dt. ent. Z., Iris 27: 37. Type locality: [China, Xinjiang,] western Gobi, Chamyl [Kumul/Hami], 800-900m.


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Wingspan: 52--75mm. Varies, with some resembling a pale, creamy H. hippophaes bienerti. Easily mistaken for a hybrid between H. euphorbiae and H. hippophaes bienerti. The pink area of the hindwing can be intense or faint.


ADULT BIOLOGY

A species of Elaeagnus/Apocynum thickets along river-banks and on river flood-plains.


FLIGHT-TIME

China: 7.vii (Xayar).


EARLY STAGES

OVUM: Unknown.

LARVA: Unknown.

PUPA: Unknown.

Larval hostplants. Unknown, but the closely related Hyles apocyni (Shchetkin) is recorded in Tajikistan and Turkmenistan on Apocynum (Shchetkin, 1956; 1960). These plants grow along the drier fringes of riverine vegetation. However, searches by the first author along several rivers on the southern slopes of the Tian Shan, north of Turpan, in 1995 failed to find this species, even though Apocynum was present.


PARASITOIDS

Unknown.


LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

China: Xinjiang (Hami/Kumul; Barkol; Xayar).


GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Endemic to China.


Global distribution of Hyles chamyla. Map: © BMNH.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION

Holarctic; western Palaearctic region. Pleistocene refuge: Monocentric -- Turanoeremic refuge.



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