CECHETRA SCOTTI (Rothschild, 1920) -- Scotts' green hawkmoth

Cechetra scotti, Simla, Himachal Pradesh, India. Photo: © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London (NHMUK).

TAXONOMY

Cechetra scotti (Rothschild, 1920), Annals and Magazine of Natural History 5: 481. Type locality: [India, Uttarakhand,] Mussoorie.

Synonym. Cechenena lineosa subsp. scotti Rothschild, 1920.

Synonym. Cechenena scotti Rothschild, 1920.

Synonym. Cechenena pundjabensis Gehlen, 1931.

Note. Synonymized with Cechenena lineosa as a subspecies by Gehlen, 1931, Ent. Z. 45: 121. Reinstated as a species by Dierl, 1970, Khumbu Himal Ergebn. Forsch-Unternehmens Nepal Himalaya 3: 335. Treated as a form of Cechenena lineosa by d'Abrera, [1987], Sphingidae Mundi: 205. Reinstated as a species by Haruta, 1993, Tinea 13 (suppl. 3): 147. Treated as a subspecies of Cechenena lineosa by Bridges, 1993, Cat. Fam. Gen. Spec. Sphingidae of the World: VIII.4. Reinstated as a species by Kitching & Cadiou, 2000, Hawkmoths of the World: 40. Overlooked by Zolotuhin & Ryabov, 2012, Hawkmoths of Vietnam: 206 and not formally transferred to Cechetra when that genus was erected. Transferred to Cechetra by Kitching & Rougerie et al., 2018, Biodivers. Data J. 6: e22236, and by Ivshin, Krutov & Romanov, Zootaxa 4450(1): 1 (Sphingidae Taxonomic Inventory, 2021).


ADULT DESCRIPTION AND VARIATION

Wingspan: 74--108mm. Very similar to paler and more contrastingly patterned specimens of Cechetra lineosa but immediately distinguishable by the pink dorsal scaling on the proximal part of the antenna, and the deep olive-green band along the costa and through the anterior half of the discal cell that contrasts strongly with the almost white ground colour of the remainder of the wing, which is characteristically flushed pink basally. Despite these pattern differences, Cechetra scotti may yet prove to be only a colour form of Cechetra lineosa (Sphingidae Taxonomic Inventory, 2021).


ADULT BIOLOGY

At 1050-2400m altitude.


FLIGHT-TIME

China: 25.iv (nr. Yuxi, Yunnan); 3-7.vii (Medog, Lhunze & Zhangmu, Xizang/Tibet); 4.viii (Pianma, Yunnan).


EARLY STAGES

OVUM: Undescribed.

LARVA: Very similar to that of Cechetra lineosa, but smaller (Bell & Scott, 1937).

PUPA: Very similar to that of Cechetra lineosa, but smaller (Bell & Scott, 1937).

Larval hostplants. Vitaceae.


PARASITOIDS

Unknown.


LOCAL DISTRIBUTION

China: Yunnan (Molangshan, nr. Yuxi, 1050m; Pianma, nr. Lushui); Xizang/Tibet (Lhunze; Zhangmu, Nyalam County; Medog, Nyingchi/Linzhi area).


GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

Northern Pakistan (Azad Kashmir), northern India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland), Nepal, Bhutan (Irungbam & Irungbam, 2019), northern Laos, northern Vietnam, southern Yunnan (China) and just into the tropical Tibetan border towns.


Global distribution of Cechetra scotti. Map: © Tony Pittaway.

BIOGEOGRAPHICAL AFFILIATION



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© A. R. Pittaway & I. J. Kitching (Natural History Museum, London)