POLYPTYCHUS CHINENSIS CHINENSIS Rothschild & Jordan, 1903

Female Polyptychus chinensis chinensis. Photo: © BMNH Male Polyptychus chinensis chinensis. Photo: © BMNH

TAXONOMY

Polyptychus chinensis Rothschild & Jordan, 1903, Novit. zool. 9 (suppl.): 239. Type locality: China: "probably Yangtse-kiang Region".


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Male Polyptychus chinensis chinensis, Taiwan. Photo: © Felix Lin.

Wingspan: 92--112mm.


ADULT BIOLOGY


FLIGHT-TIME

Taiwan: iii-iv (Kaohsiung Hsien); iv (Hualien Hsien). Japan: 19.iv (Ryukyu Archipelago).


EARLY STAGES

OVUM:

LARVA:

PUPA:

Larval hostplants. Ehretia dicksonii (Boraginaceae), a small tree (ShenHorn Yen, pers. comm. 2012).


PARASITOIDS


LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

Taiwan: Kaohsiung Hsien (Shanping, 640m).

Japan: Ryukyu Archipelago (Amami-Oshima).


GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Probably endemic to Taiwan and the southern Ryukyu Archipelago, contrary to what the type locality indicates.


Global distribution of Polyptychus chinensis chinensis. Map: © BMNH.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION


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