Basiothia medea

Small verdant hawk
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Genus:	Basiothia
Species:	B. medea
Binomial name
Basiothia medea (Fabricius, 1781) [1]
Synonyms
Sphinx medeaFabricius, 1781 Sphinx minusFabricius, 1787 Sphinx idrieusDrury, 1782 Sphinx clioFabricius, 1793 Sphinx onothberinaMartyn, 1797 Choerocampa transfigurataWallengren, 1860 Basiothia nigritaClark, 1920 Basiothia idricusWalker, 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 larvae feed on Spermacoce natalensis , Dioda , Spermacoce , Pentas and Pentasinia species. ^[3]

References

1. "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-12-20. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
2. Carcasson, R. H. (1967). "Revised Catalogue of the African Sphingidae (Lepidoptera) with Descriptions of the East African species". Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society and National Museum. 26 (3): 1–173. doi:10.5962/p.238439 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
3. De Prins, J. & De Prins, W. (2018). "Basiothia medea (Fabricius, 1781)". Afromoths. Retrieved December 5, 2018.