SPHINX CONSTRICTA Butler, 1885

Female Sphinx constricta. Photo: © BMNH Male Sphinx constricta. Photo: © BMNH

TAXONOMY

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


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Disturbed Sphinx constricta, Japan. Photo: © Kenichiro Nakao.

ADULT BIOLOGY


FLIGHT-TIME

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


EARLY STAGES

OVUM:

LARVA:

Full-grown larva of Sphinx constricta, Japan. Photo: © Takayuki Suzuki.

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.

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


Global distribution of Sphinx constricta. Map: © BMNH.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION


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