Daphnis protrudens

Daphnis protrudens C. Felder & R. Felder, 1874
(one synonym : Cherocampa neriastri Boisduval, 1875)
MACROGLOSSINAE, SPHINGIDAE, BOMBYCOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

The caterpillars of this species are initially green with a long thin dark tail spike, and a narrow head and thorax.

(Photo: courtesy of Eathan Beaver, Toowong, Queensland)

Later instars develop a pale line along each side above the spiracles, edged with groups of dark-circled bluish white spots, and red true legs.

(Photo: courtesy of Annabel Taylor, Cape Hillsborough, Queensland)

The antipenultimate instar develops a fatter head and thorax, and one or more larger blueish spots each side of the thorax.

(Photo: courtesy of Annabel Taylor, Cape Hillsborough, Queensland)

The last instar can be green or orange-brown, with a purpleish lower edge to the lateral pale lines, an a strong tapering reddish backward-curving horn on the tail.

(Photo: courtesy of Annabel Taylor, Cape Hillsborough, Queensland)

The caterpillars have been found feeding on:

Swizzle Bush ( Timonius timon, RUBIACEAE ).

(Photo: courtesy of Annabel Taylor, Cape Hillsborough, Queensland)

The caterpillars grow to a length of about 6 cms. They pupate in a loose cocooon amongst the ground debris. The pupa is brown with a a row of dark spots each side, a dark dorsal line, and a partial dark ventral line. The pupa has a length of about 5 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of Andrew MacDonald, Finch Hatton, Queensland)

The adult moths have wings with a bold pattern of pale and dark brown. The forewings each have a dark central transverse band which has a finger-like extension in the middle pointing to the middle of the margin. There is a contrasting pair of dark brown and white bands across the first abdominal segment. The wingspan is about 10 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of Paul Kay, Queensland)

The species has been found as several subspecies across south-east Asia, including

Sulawesi,

and as the subspecies protrudens in

New Guinea,

as well as in Australia in:

Queensland.

drawing by Rudolf Felder, listed as Daphnis protrudens,
Zoologischer Theil, Lepidoptera, Reise der Oesterreichischen Fregatte Novara
Abtheilung 2, Band 2 (1864), Plate 76, figure 7,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

Further reading:

Rudolf Felder,
Zoologischer Theil, Lepidoptera,
Reise der Oesterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. von Wullerstorf-Urbair,
Abtheilung 2, Band 2 (1864), Plate 76, figure 7.

Maxwell S. Moulds, James P. Tuttle and David A. Lane.
Hawkmoths of Australia,
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Series, Volume 13 (2020),
pp. 115-118, Plates 23, 79, and 84.

Buck Richardson,
Mothology,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2008, p. 35.

Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 199.

Paul Zborowski and Ted Edwards,
A Guide to Australian Moths,
CSIRO Publishing, 2007, p. 168.

caterpillar

Australian
Australian Butterflies

butterflies

Australian
home

Lepidoptera

Australian
Australian Moths

moths

caterpillar

(updated 9 December 2005, 11 March 2026)