The moth is Sataspes infernalis. There are two forms, one typical, which you
are holding in your hand in the photo, the second, uniformis, has no yellow
scales on the abdomen. Only the male of the latter form is known, from S. India
and E. Himalaya. If you keep a look out, it would be useful to know whether
uniformis is a male form or you can perhaps discover and describe the unknown
female. All in your garden! Good luck!
On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:57:34 +0530 wrote
>
Two years ago, when we came to the Bungalow No 180 in CME, we had planted
Din ka raja in our garden. Over time the plants have grown more than twelve
feet high and as of now have thousands of flowers. The garden has a nice gentle
fragrance throughout the day and the two bushes have many visitors by day and
dusk. Of course, there were hoverflies, bees, tiny flies and so on. I strongly
recommend you to plant Din ka raja (Cestrum diurnum), (yes even though it is
exotic), it is a fabulous nectar resource for Lepidoptera.
The most interesting of the visitors is the Common Jay which is found in CME
but rarely in other parts of Pune. In the dusk today I dscovered two
interesting species - many Common Banded Awls and three to four hawk moths which
appear to be bee-hawk or hummingbird hawk moths of some kind.
The hawk moths were very swift, flew high and darted rapidly - very difficult
for me to film. However, a chancy swipe with my butterfly net allowed me to
trap a moth - I could only take images of the front and rear for fear of
hurting the insect. Fortunately,, I was able to do so without harming it and it
sped off at light speed into the dusky sky.
While sipping, they were so absorbed that I could bring the handle of the
butterfly net within a few inches. Pushing the flower branch didn't pset them,
they moved with the flowers, When I caught one speciemens, the others resumed
feeding almost immediately. It was as ifthey were starving and suddenly found
lots of nectar and wanted to drink it all before sme one else got there.
Can anyone id the moth?
--
Enjoy
