Macroglossa affictitia Butler, 1875, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1875: 240. Type locality: [India, Karnataka,] Canara [Kanara].
The moth makes a deep humming note before flight by a quivering motion of the wings. It does not appear to be attracted by light (Bell & Scott, 1937).
OVUM: Colour pale olive-green, almost spherical (1 x 0.85mm), surface smooth and shiny (Bell & Scott, 1937).
LARVA: Full-fed 40mm. According to Bell & Scott (1937), in the first instar head round, body cylindrical. Horn subcylindrical, tip truncate with a setiferous point at each lateral angle of the truncation, directed laterad. Body surface smooth and shiny; horn covered densely with tubercles. Head orange; body olive-green, segments 11 to 14 paler than the rest; horn dull black. In the second instar head pale orange, body darker olive-green, segments 2 and 11 to 14 paler. There is a greyish dorso-lateral stripe from segment 3 to base of horn. By the third instar, horn shiny, set with strong, pointed, setiferous tubercles; head degraded orange; body dark olive-green above, pale olive-green below. There is a broad, well defined dorso-lateral stripe running from segment 2 to base of horn; segment 14 yellowish. In the fourth instar, surface dull except for the horn, true legs and prolegs, which are shiny; horn tuberculate as in third instar. Head and body smoky-black, dotted with yellow below the dorso-lateral stripe; this stripe broad, yellowish-green; horn black.
In the final and fifth instar, head small, round; true clypeus with apex acute, half length of head; false clypeus forming a narrowly rounded arch over apex of true clypeus, apex reaching to two-thirds length of head; ligula kidney-shaped; cutting-edge of mandible shallowly toothed. Surface of head dull, minutely shagreened and covered with low, shiny tubercles; ligula shiny. Body dull and smooth, covered with minute hairs. Horn straight, rising from a fleshy cone. Distal two-thirds of anal flap, clasper faces, and legs and prolegs shiny.
Colour variable. In one form the is head dull black, the tubercles whitish; labrum, ligula and antenna pale yellow; mandible pale yellow, tip blackish. Segment 2 dull black; 3 to 11 smoky-black, dotted with yellow especially on dorsum. There is an obscure black dorsal stripe on 3 to 11, expanding into black patches near the front margins of 8 and 9, and an obscure dorso-lateral stripe, edged below by black, on 3 to 11. Anal segments pale brownish-pink suffused with fuscous laterally. Horn, distal two-thirds of anal flap, clasper sides and true legs black; there is a black ventral stripe. Spiracles rather large, oval, flush, rich orange tipped with whitish at the upper and lower ends.
There is also a green form in which the head is green dotted with yellow, with a white stripe separating face from cheek. Body green dotted with yellow; a pale indigo dorsal stripe from segment 3 to base of horn; a narrow dorso-lateral stripe from 2 to base of horn, yellowish on 2 to 4 and white to base of horn, broader on 10 to 12; there is also a yellow subspiracular stripe from 2 to tip of anal flap. Horn green with the tip and tubercles black; true legs shiny black, Spiracles orange, the ends shortly yellow.
In another form the head is pinkish-yellow, mouthparts green; body delicate pink dotted with yellow; dorsal stripe pale blue; dorso-lateral stripe yellowish on segments 2 to 4, then white; horn orange, tubercles and tip black; segment 14 and anal flap green dotted with white. Spiracles orange with the ends white.
In yet another form the head is black; body black dotted with white, dorsum brownish, violet-brown or drab; the longitudinal stripes sometimes broken or wanting; horn and true legs shiny black; venter pinkish.
These are the principal colour-forms, but intermediate forms also occur, and all are subject to variation. The only constant marking is the dorso-lateral stripe.
The full-fed larva, when alarmed, raises the front part of the body, throws the head back over the dorsum, and ejects green fluid from the mouth. Before pupation it turns a livid pinkish colour (Bell & Scott, 1937).
PUPA: 30mm, width 8.5 mm. Colour degraded greenish-white; wing-case covered with leaden-grey reticulations; tongue, antenna, legs and veins of wings rusty; thorax with a leaden-grey dorsal stripe and an obscure rusty dorso-lateral stripe; abdomen with a diffuse dark dorsal stripe and suffused with pinkish rust-colour; spiracles black, the central slit orange-brown; cremaster black. In shape the same as that of other macroglossine pupae. Tongue-case not very prominent; tip of tongue rounded and depressed; antenna slightly longer than fore leg; with a short narrow coxal piece. Surface moderately shiny; head, thorax and wing case very shallowly, irregularly corrugate, veins of wings raised; abdomen pitted except for a narrow band near the hind margin of each. There is no sculpturing on segment 4, and front bevel of 9 with a number of short, closely set ridges. Spiracle of 2 a narrow slit, with a raised oblong transverse lobe projecting from 3 behind it, and an emargination of the hind margin of 2 in front of it; remaining spiracles oval slightly raised. Cremaster triangular, tip narrowly truncate, a small pointed tubercle at each lateral angle of the truncation; ventral surface slightly; hollowed longitudinally and with a rounded central keel (Bell & Scott, 1937).
Larval hostplants. Strychnos (Loganiaceae).
China: ?Yunnan.
From Sri Lanka and southern India to Burma/Myanmar, Thailand and ?southwestern China (Yunnan).
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