HEMARIS SAUNDERSII (Walker, 1856)

UK: Saunders' Bee Hawkmoth

Sesia saundersi Walker, 1856, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln. Br. Mus. 8: 83.

Type locality: Northern India.


BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION

Holarctic; western Palaearctic region. Pleistocene refuge: Monocentric -- northern section of Sindian refuge.


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Male Hemaris saundersii, Gurais/Gurez Valley, Kashmir. Photo: © NHMUK.

Wingspan: 50--60mm. Very like a large version of Hemaris fuciformis (Linnaeus, 1758), but without the scaled line across the forewing cell. According to Bell & Scott (1937), upperside head, thorax and abdomen olive-green; fourth and fifth abdominal segments brownish-red, with a mesal patch of the same colour on the sixth segment. Underside of abdomen brownish-red, grey mesially. Forewing upperside hyaline, with a broad reddish-brown marginal band as in Hemaris fuciformis. Hind wing hyaline, with a narrow reddish-brown marginal border as in Hemaris tityus (Linnaeus, 1758).


Male Hemaris saundersii with pre-flight scales, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko. Female Hemaris saundersii with pre-flight scales, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, bred 2018/19, leg. Serge Yevdoshenko. Photo: © Tony Pittaway. Male Hemaris saundersii (worn), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, bred 2018/19, leg. Serge Yevdoshenko. Photo: © Tony Pittaway. Female Hemaris saundersii (worn), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, bred 2018/19, leg. Serge Yevdoshenko. Photo: © Tony Pittaway. Male Hemaris saundersii with pre-flight scales, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, bred 2018/19, leg. Serge Yevdoshenko. Photo: © Tony Pittaway. Mating pair of Hemaris saundersii, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko.

ADULT BIOLOGY

Diurnal. A species of warm temperate scrub-jungle and open forest at 1800-3000m altitude.


Typical temperate zone habitat of Hemaris saundersii, Ajub National Park, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 16.vii.2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko. Typical temperate zone habitat of Hemaris saundersii, Shorgan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 14.vii.2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko.

FLIGHT-TIME

Uni- or bivoltine, depending on locality. In Kashmir, on the wing in June; in Himachal Pradesh during April/May and again in July.


EARLY STAGES

OVUM: Small (1.3 x 1.1mm), but larger than those of Hemaris fuciformis, pale glossy green, nearly spherical. Laid singly on the underside of the leaves of its hostplant.


Egg of Hemaris saundersii, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, bred 2018/19, leg. Serge Yevdoshenko. Photo: © Tony Pittaway.

LARVA: Full-fed 45mm. Early instars undescribed. According to Bell & Scott (1937), the fully-grown larva resembles that of Hemaris fuciformis.


First instar larva of Hemaris saundersii (lateral view), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko. Second instar larva of Hemaris saundersii (lateral view), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko. Third instar larva of Hemaris saundersii (lateral view), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko. Fourth instar larva of Hemaris saundersii (lateral view), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko. Full-grown brown form larva of Hemaris saundersii (lateral view), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko. Full-grown green form larva of Hemaris saundersii (lateral view), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko. Full-grown green form larva of Hemaris saundersii (dorsal view), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko. Early final instar blue-green form larva of Hemaris saundersii, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2018. Photo: © Serge Yevdoshenko.

Found in May/June and again in August in scub-jungle at Mussooree (Uttarakhand); uncommen (Bell & Scott, 1937).

Hostplants. Lonicera quinquelocularis in Uttarakhand, India (Bell & Scott, 1937). However, the main host in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, appears to be Zabelia triflora (R. Br. ex Wall.) Makino [syn. Abelia triflora; Linnaea triflora] (Serge Yevdoshenko, pers. comm. 2019).

PUPA: 30mm. Typical Hemaris, i.e. slender, dark brownish-black, dull shiny. Very similar to that of Hemaris croatica (Esper, 1800), but darker, and with a single pronounced lateral spine to the cremaster (not a series of smaller spines). The overwintering stage.


Pupa of Hemaris saundersii, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, bred 2018/19, leg. Serge Yevdoshenko. Photo: © Tony Pittaway.

PARASITOIDS

Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION

Currently known only from northeastern Afghanistan (Danner, Eitschberger & Surholt, 1998) and northern Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) (Rafi et al., 2014; Serge Yevdoshenko, pers. comm. 2018).

Extra-limital range. Northern India (Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh east to Uttarakhand). Reports of this species from farther east are erroneous, e.g. Bangladesh and northern Myanmar.


OTHER SUBSPECIES

None.

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