Basiothia medea

Basiothia medea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Genus:	Basiothia
Species:	B. medea
Binomial name
Basiothia medea (Fabricius, 1781)[1]
Synonyms
Sphinx medea Fabricius, 1781 Sphinx minus Fabricius, 1787 Sphinx idrieus Drury, 1782 Sphinx clio Fabricius, 1793 Sphinx onothberina Martyn, 1797 Choerocampa transfigurata Wallengren, 1860 Basiothia nigrita Clark, 1920 Basiothia idricus Walker, 1856

Basiothia medea, the small verdant hawk, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It is common in open habitats throughout the Ethiopian Region, including Madagascar. It is however probably absent from the equatorial forest belt, except as a vagrant. The species is an active migrant.^[2]

The length of the forewings is 22–25 mm and the wingspan is 49–63 mm. The body is grass green. The forewings are grass green with two or three faint darker green transverse lines. The hindwings are dull orange with a narrow brown margin.

The larvae feed on Spermacoce natalensis, Dioda, Spermacoce, Pentas and Pentasinia species.^[3]

References

1. "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
2. "Revised Catalogue of the African Sphingidae (Lepidoptera) with Descriptions of the East African species" (PDF). Biodiversitylibrary.org. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
3. Afromoths