SPHINX CONSTRICTA Butler, 1885 -- Japanese privet hawkmoth

TAXONOMY

Sphinx constricta Butler, 1885, Cist. Ent. 3: 113. Type locality: Japan, [Honshu, Kanagawa,] Kashiwagi [Kashiwagaya].

ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Structurally similar to Sphinx ligustri, but forewings more elongate and angular; pattern similar, but the pink colour less intense. Hindwing upperside with antemedian and median pale bands connected at costal and inner margins, a situation rare in Sphinx ligustri; the bands much less pink.

ADULT BIOLOGY

FLIGHT-TIME

Japan: 28.iv-2.vi (Hokkaido); 6.vi-12.viii (Honshu); 20.vii-20.viii (Hokkaido).

EARLY STAGES

OVUM:

LARVA: The anal horn in full-grown larvae of this species in totally black and granular. In Sphinx ligustri Linnaeus, 1758 it is yellow and black, more robust, and smooth.

PUPA:

Larval hostplants. Enkianthus perulatus, Helwingia japonica, Ilex crenata, I. macropoda, Rhododendron, Spiraea salicifolia, S. thunbergii, Viburnum dilatatum and Weigela hortensis.

PARASITOIDS

Tachinidae: Winthemia cruentata (Rondani).

LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

Japan: Hokkaido (Hakodate; Oshamanbe); Honshu (Sado Island; Kashiwagaya; Shiratani-yama; Onoba; Fujimi Heights; Shimashima Valley; Bushi); Kyushu.

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Endemic to Japan, south of southern Hokkaido (Komatsu & Inoko, 2000).

In central and northern Hokkaido, Japan, this species is replaced by Sphinx ligustri.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION