Macroglossum mediovitta Rothschild & Jordan, 1903, Novit. zool. 9 (suppl.): 620 (key), 626 (key), 647. Type locality: [Japan, Ryukyu Islands,] Okinawa.
[Further details on this species in Japan, as well as photos of many stages, can be found on Digital Moths of Japan.]
Similar to Macroglossum heliophila, from which it differs in the following: forewings more elongate, distal margin less convex; hindwing distal border evenly convex, narrower; forewing upperside with proximal edge of antemedian band not distinct, the basal area being darker; very prominent pinkish-white median band, sharply defined, more oblique; first discal line well-marked, not elbowed anteriorly, forming the discal border of the white band; second scarcely visible, being obscured by the deep brown colouration; no sharply defined postmedian costal grey area; vein M1 not grey; subapical spot in cell Rs4 small; grey postdiscal line vestigial.
Attracted to the flowers of Duranta erecta at dawn and dusk.
China: 11.viii-26.ix (Hong Kong). Japan: vii-ix (Ryukyu Archipelago).
OVUM: Unrecorded
LARVA:
PUPA: Unrecorded
Larval hostplants. On Taiwan on Creeping Psychotria (Psychotria serpens L.), a small-leaved, ivy-like plant which is easily mistaken for the very similar Creeping Fig (Ficus pumila) as it snakes its way up tree trunks and along branches.
Unknown.
China: Hong Kong.
Taiwan: Taipei Hsien (Fushan); Taipei (Neihu).
Japan: Ryukyu Archipelago (Okinawa, Nago).
From southern Japan (Ryukyu Archipelago), Taiwan and southern China (Hong Kong) south through Thailand (?one specimen only), Malaysia (Peninsular, Sarawak) to Indonesia (Sumatra, Kalimantan).
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