Choerocampa rosetta Swinhoe, 1892, Cat. east. and Aust. Lepid. Heterocera Colln Oxf. Univ. Mus. 1: 16. Type locality: [Indonesia, Maluku,] Ceram [Seram].
Synonym. Hippotion depictum Dupont, 1941, in Dupont, F. & Roepke, W., Heterocera Javanica. Fam. Sphingidae, Hawk moths. Verh. ned. Akad. Wet. (Tweede Sectie) 40: 70. Type locality: [Indonesia,] Java.
Attracted to the flowers of Lantana camara, Duranta erecta and Ixora in Hong Kong, flying for most of the night (Tennent, 1992).
China: i-xii (Hong Kong); 20-21.vi (Yunnan); vii (Hainan). Taiwan: v (Kaohsiung Hsien); vi (Taichung Hsien); vi (Nantou Hsien); vii (Nantou Hsien); viii (Tainan). Japan: 24.iv (Ryukyu Archipelago); 22.vi (Honshu); 6.x (Ryukyu Archipelago).
Kendrick (2002) states that it is multivoltine in Hong Kong, occurring from March until November, with peaks in late March, May and early October.
OVUM:
LARVA:
PUPA:
Larval hostplants. Borreria, Morinda citrifolia and M. umbellata (Rubiaceae). In Hong Kong it has also been found on Pentas lanceolata (David L. Mohn, pers. comm. 2005), which is also the main host in Hawaii.
China: Yunnan (Kunming; Huanglian Nature Reserve, 2060m); Guangdong (Guangzhou; Lianping; Wanzishan, Deqing); Hong Kong (Shau Kei Wan); Hainan (Chengmai).
Taiwan: Nantou Hsien (Lushan spa; Huisun Forest; Puli); Tainan; Kaohsiung Hsien (Liukuei); Taichung Hsien (Pahsien Shan).
Japan: Honshu (Taira); Ryukyu Archipelago (Iriomoteshima; Ishigakishima).
From southern Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, eastwards across Thailand, southern China and Taiwan to southern Japan (Ryukyu Archipelago) and the Philippines, and then southwards across the Indian Ocean Islands and South East Asia to the Maldive Islands, Andaman Islands, eastern Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and the Torres Straits of New Guinea.
In the last 15 years this species has managed to colonize Hawaii, although it was initially misidentified as Hippotion boerhaviae.
Return to Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic species list