Macroglossum insipida poecilum Rothschild & Jordan, 1903, Novit. zool. 9 (suppl.): 643. Type locality: [Japan,] Loo Choo Is [Ryukyu Islands].
Synonym. Macroglossum poecilum ferrea (Mell, 1922).
Synonym. Macroglossum poecilum modestum Seitz, 1929.
[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 insipida. Forewing upperside with subapical spot in cell Rs3 dark reddish brown. Upperside of body and wings with a reddish flush. Abdomen upperside with dark paired spots prominent, the yellow lateral spots reduced. Abdomen underside with no black ventral patches.
Male genitalia similar to Macroglossum insipida, but phallus with more teeth near the base of the process, and the proximal tooth not much enlarged, much smaller than in Macroglossum insipida.
China: vi (Hong Kong); ix (Hong Kong); 29.x (Hong Kong). Japan: vii-x (Ryukyu Archipelago).
OVUM:
LARVA: Full-fed 50mm.
PUPA:
Larval hostplants. Recorded from Lasianthus chinensis (Rubiaceae) in Hong Kong (Li, pers. comm. 2002). It takes Lasianthus fordii on Taiwan (ShiPher Wu, pers. comm. 2012), as well as Lasianthus verticillatus [syn. Lasianthus obliquinervis], Lasianthus attenuatus [syn. Lasianthus wallichii] and Paederia foetida.
China: Guangdong; Hong Kong (Sha Lo Tung; Tuen Mun; Tai Tam; Kam Shan).
Taiwan: Taipei Hsien (Fushan); Nantou Hsien (Lianhuachih).
Japan: Ryukyu Archipelago (Okinawa, Nago; Irimoteshima).
So far, only recorded from Hong Kong, Taiwan, southern Japan (Ryukyu Archipelago) and Malaysian northern Borneo (Sarawak, Sabah).
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