Sphinx caligineus brunnescens Mell, 1922, Dt. ent. Z. 1922: 113. Type locality: China, north Yunnan, montane forest.
Note. Mell (1922a) described brown specimens of S. caligineus from northern Yunnan as S. c. brunnescens, a subspecies that was confined to montane forests. Later, however, he referred specimens from northern Guangdong and southern Hunan to this subspecies (Mell, 1922b) and stated that S. c. brunnescens was intermediate ("ein Mittelglied") between the dark brown S. c. caligineus (Butler) from Japan and the paler grey S. c. sinicus (Rothschild & Jordan) from 'Zocé' (= Sheshan), Zhejiang. On 30.vi.1995, the first author captured a specimen of S. caligineus at Hangzhou (Zhejiang) that was transitional in colour between S. c. sinicus and S. c. brunnescens. In addition, there is a brown female in the IZAS from nearby Sheshan (Zhejiang) (the type locality of S. c. sinicus) that matches the description of S. c. brunnescens, while grey specimens of S. caligineus have been captured at 2250m in northern Yunnan. We therefore consider it likely that S. c. brunnescens is simply a colour form of S. c. sinicus, analogous to the brown forms that exist in the European species, S. pinastri Linnaeus. However, this matter cannot be fully resolved until the types of S. c. brunnescens have been examined.
China: 2.vi (Zhejiang); 15.vii (Hunan); vii-ix (Yunnan).
OVUM:
LARVA:
PUPA:
Larval hostplants.
China: Zhejiang (Sheshan); Sichuan (Yibin); Yunnan (north); Hunan (Nan Ling Shan, 750m); Guangdong.
Endemic to central and southern China.
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