UK: Barbary Spurge Hawkmoth, F: Sphinx du Tithymale
Deilephila mauretanica Staudinger, 1871, in Staudinger & Wocke, Cat. Lepid. eur. Faunengeb.: 36.Type locality: Mauritania [Morocco and Algeria].
(Taxonomic note. de Freina (1994) placed mauretanica as a subspecies of Hyles euphorbiae (Linnaeus, 1758) on the basis of minor morphological and behavioural differences, overlooking the many more characteristics that mauretanica has in common with Hyles tithymali (Boisduval, 1834).)
Holarctic; western Palaearctic region. Pleistocene refuge: Monocentric -- Afroeremic refuge as part of a mauretanica/deserticola complex.
Wingspan: 60--85mm. Highly variable, often resembling the nominate subspecies but tending to become smaller and paler towards desert areas.
Frequents dry, rocky slopes and, in more open areas, dry, sandy river-beds with a good supply of Euphorbia.
Trivoltine; April/May, June/July and August/September.
OVUM: Identical to that of Hyles euphorbiae.
LARVA: Full-fed, 70--80mm. Examination of a large number of full-fed larvae, both in the wild and preserved in the Natural History Museum, London, clearly shows a relationship between this subspecies and subsp. tithymali (Boisduval, 1834) and subsp. deserticola (Staudinger, 1901). In fact, many larvae are almost identical to those of these subspecies; however, the colours tend to be less bright. Oddly, in some immature larvae the eye-spots are pure white (not red-centred), slightly larger than in the other two subspecies, and set in a slightly larger black surround, just like in Hyles euphorbiae. These stay large and white in such larvae, right through to maturity.
In a year with good rainfall, larvae can be very abundant from April to October. Intolerant of temperatures in excess of 36°C (de Freina, 1994).
Hostplants. Herbaceous Euphorbia spp., especially Euphorbia paralias, Euphorbia terracina, Euphorbia characias, Euphorbia pinifolia and Euphorbia nicaeensis (Rungs, 1981).
PUPA: Morphologically indistinguishable from that of Hyles euphorbiae. Overwinters as a pupa.
Restricted to the mountains and northern lowlands of northwest Africa, from Morocco (Oberthür, 1916; Rungs, 1981; Speidel & Hassler, 1989) to Tunisia (Pittaway, 1983b), including Spanish North Africa, e.g. Melilla (Gastón & Vives Moreno, 2023). In desert areas it merges with subsp. deserticola to form a cline (Oberthür, 1916).
Extra-limital range. None.
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