Macroglossum nubilum Rothschild & Jordan, 1903
 MACROGLOSSINAE,   SPHINGIDAE,   BOMBYCOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


early instar
(Photo: courtesy of Carol and Trevor Deane, Whyanbeel, Queensland)

Early instars of the Caterpillars of this species are green with a green tail spike. Penultimate instars have four pale lines along the back, and a dark brown tail spike with a white tip. The last instar is brown with dark speckles forming diagonal stripes along the sides, a pale stripe each side of the head extending to broken dark lines along the back and along each side, and a dark tail spike that lies backwards with a forward curving white tip. Late instars can also develop orange spots along the sides.


late instar
(Photo: courtesy of Carol and Trevor Deane, Whyanbeel, Queensland)

The caterpillars have been found feeding on plants in RUBIACEAE, including

  • Noni ( Morinda citrifolia ), and
  • Boorom Vine ( Coelospermum paniculatum ).

    The caterpillars grow to a length of about 5 cms. The caterpillars pupate in a cocoon amongst surface debris. The pupa is brown with dark markings including a dorsal line on the thorax, and spots on the spiracles. The pupa is unusual in having a narrow collar to the developing head. The length of the pupa is about 4 cms.


    (Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

    The adult moths are brown with a vague pale band across the wingtip of each forewing, and a broad yellow band across each hindwing. The moths have a wingspan of about 6 cms.

    The moths have been noted for flying in the daytime, and also being pollinators of the River Cherry ( Syzygium tierneyanum ).

    Macroglossum nubilum
    male, photo by Lionel Walter Rothschild & Karl Jordan    ,
    A revision of the Lepidopterous family Sphingidae,
    Novitates Zoologicae, Volume IX Supplement, Part 2 (1903), Plate IV, fig. 17,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Natural History Museum Library, London.

    The species is found in

  • New Guinea

    and also in Australia in

  • Queensland.

    Further reading :

    Maxwell S. Moulds, James P. Tuttle and David A. Lane.
    Hawkmoths of Australia,
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Series, Volume 13 (2020),
    pp. 185-186, Plates 44, 76, 89.

    Buck Richardson,
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
    LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 202.

    Lionel Walter Rothschild & Karl Jordan,
    A revision of the Lepidopterous family Sphingidae,
    Novitates Zoologicae,
    Volume 9 Supplement, Part 1 (1903), p. 652, No. 593, and also Plate 4, fig. 17.

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    (updated 12 November 2011, 12 July 2019, 7 September 2020)