Macroglossum vacillans

Macroglossum vacillans (Walker, [1865])
(one synonym : Macroglossa pseudogyrans Rothschild, 1894)
MACROGLOSSINAE, SPHINGIDAE, BOMBYCOIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of Simon Ong, Kununurra, Western Australia)

Early instars of this Caterpillar are green or grey with a warty tail spike. The third and fourth instars are still green or grey, with a dark dorsal line and a subdorsal pale line each side, and are covered in white dots. The final instar may or may not also develop red spots on the spiracles, a dark grey head, and black legs.

The caterpillars feed on

Strychnine Bush (Strychnos lucida, LOGANIACEAE).

The caterpillars grow to a length of about 5 cms. They pupate in a cocoon incorporating ground debris. The pupa is brown with black spots on the spiracles. The small cremaster is flattened. The head has a keel shaped extension for the developing haustellum. The pupa has a length of about 3.5 cms.

drawing by Walter Rothschild, listed as Macroglossa pseudogyrans,
Notes on Sphingidae, with descriptions of new species,
Novitates Zoologicae, Volume I, Part 1 (1894), Plate V, figure 23,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Natural History Museum Library, London.

The adult moths of this species are brown with a faint pattern on each forewing. The hindwings are orange shading to brown at the wingtips. The wingspan is about 4 cms.

The eggs are oval and yellow, with a length of about 1 mm. They are laid on the upper and lower surfaces of young leaves of a foodplant.

This species is found in

Indonesia,

as well as in Australia in

the north of Western Australia,

Northern Territory, and

Queensland.