Pergesa gloriosa Butler, 1875, Proc. zool. soc. Lond. 1875: 246. Type locality: [India, West Bengal,] Darjiling [Darling].
Synonyms. Pergesa gloriosa Butler, 1875.
Synonyms. Rhagastis gloriosa orientalis Bryk, 1944.
Synonyms. Rhagastis yunnanaria Chu & Wang, 1980, Acta zootaxon. sin. 5: 422. Type locality: China, Yunnan, Jinping.
Wingspan: 82--92mm. An unmistakable species with the olive-green forewing overlain by broad, dark red and partially merged transverse bands. Head, and thorax and abdomen mesially, olive-green; antenna, palpus and sides of thorax and abdomen crimson. Forewing olive-green; costa, antemedian, median, postmedian and submarginal maculate irregular bands crimson; outer margin darker olive; a marginal pale pink line; cilia crimson; a black speck at end of cell. Hindwing smoky-black suffused with blood red towards outer margin. Underside of palpus, head, body and wings rosy-red, forewing with a black patch towards base; both wings with three transverse waved lines. Second segment of labial palp not narrowed towards base; segment 1 apical cavity distinct. Outer row of forebasitarsal spines simple (Bell & Scott, 1937).
Male genitalia. Similar to that of Rhagastis lunata. Uncus longer and gnathos sharper. Sacculus much longer and wavy, curving upward apically like a spike. Aedeagus shorter, anterior lobe of the process slender and the narrower side extends longer than the other side, appearing as a sharp harpe hook with few serrations (Jiang et al., 2024).
Unknown.
China: v (Songzhishanding); 14.v (Jinping); 24-26.v (Xiaguan); 12.vi (Xima); 8.viii (Yuxi).
OVUM: Unknown.
LARVA: Unknown.
PUPA: Unknown.
Larval hostplants. Unknown.
Unknown.
China: Yunnan (Xiaguan, 2020m; Jinping, 1700m; Changning Co., Songzhishanding, 2500-2800m; nr. Yingjiang, Xima, 2080m; Gaoligong Shan; Pu'er; Weixi; Jingdong, 2150m; Tacheng, 2150m); south Xizang/Tibet (Nyingchi/Linzhi; Zhangmu, 2200m; Motuo, 2115m).
Occurs along the southern slopes of the Himalaya in Nepal (Haruta, 1992), Xizang/Tibet, Bhutan (Irungbam & Irungbam, 2019), northeastern India and northern Burma/Myanmar, east to central Yunnan, China. Also recorded from the extreme northwest of Thailand (Inoue, Kennett & Kitching, [1996] and northern Vietnam.
Map: Distribution of species of the olivacea group of the genus Rhagastis. The green dotted line indicates the range of R. confusa, the red dotted line indicates the range of R. olivacea, the blue patch indicates the range of R. jordani, the orange patch indicates the range of R. lunata, and purple triangles indicate the range of R. gloriosa. (© Jiang, Wang, Xu, Kitching, Huang, Hu & Xiao, 2024).
Holarctic; eastern Palaearctic region. Pleistocene refuge: Polycentric -- Sinotibetan and Yunnan refugia.
Return to Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic species list