![]() | Brown-banded Hunter Hawkmoth (one synonym : Chaerocampa bisecta Moore, 1857) MACROGLOSSINAE, SPHINGIDAE, BOMBYCOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
early instar
(Photo: courtesy of Tom and David Sleep, Queensland)
Early instars of this species are green with a pale yellow lateral line each side of the body, and a dark tail spike.
Later instars of these caterpillars have a row of seven half-eyespots along each side of the body. The spots consist of a round black spot half surrounded by a white semicircle, and this outlined by a black semicircular line.
The mature caterpillar has two forms: green and brown. For both forms: the lateral yellow lines run along each side just under the row of eyespots. The the tail spike of the mature caterpillar is short, backward curving, and may be red, cream, brown, and/or black.
Although many food plants have been recorded, the illustrated specimens were found feeding on :
The caterpillar grows to a length of about 7 cms. The pupa is formed in a silk cocoon amongst the ground debris The pupa is elongated, and has dark and light brown striations. It has a length of about 4.5 cms.
The adult moths of this species have light brown forewings each a dark dot near the middle, and with a dark stripe from base to apex separating a pale area on hind-margin side. The moths have brown hindwings, each with a broad indistinct pale submarginal band. A single white dorsal line runs over the thorax to the tip of the abdomen. The moths have a wingspan of about 6 cms.
The eggs are laid singly under foodplant leaves or on flower heads. The eggs are oval and smooth, and pale green, with a length of about 1.4 mm.
The species is found as several subspecies over south-east Asia, including :
The subspecies intersecta (Butler, 1876) is found in
as well as in Australia in
Further reading:
Arthur G. Butler,
Descriptions of several new species of Sphingidae,
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,
1875, p. 623.
Maxwell S. Moulds, James P. Tuttle and David A. Lane.
Hawkmoths of Australia,
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Series, Volume 13 (2020),
pp. 263-266, Plates 69, 81, 92.
Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 205.
Francis Walker,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the
Collection of the British Museum,
Volume 8 (1856), p. 143.
![]() caterpillar | ![]() butterflies | ![]() Lepidoptera | ![]() moths | ![]() caterpillar |
(updated 22 April 2013, 7 May 2020)