Oleander Hawk Moth

Description:

Daphnis nerii (Linnaeus, 1758) The adult has a greenish head, with rufous in front and a grey band on the vertex. The thorax is green, and the collar outlined in grey. There is a triangular grey patch on the vertex. Abdomen is pale greenish with oblique lines at the side paired dark green lateral blotches on the penultimate segment and a single dorsal blotch on the ultimate segment. Forewings are dark green and a white patch with a black spot on it at base. Some medial whitish conjoined bands, rosy towards the hind margin. There is a triangular purplish patch from below the cell to near outer margin. Hindwings are fuscous with a pale curved submarginal line, beyond which the area is olivaceus. Ventral side is suffused with chestnut colour and a white submarginal line on both wings. A white speck is present at the end of the hindwing. Wikipedia.

Habitat:

This moth was spotted on a Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides) growing at the roadside. It appeared to be in a late larval stage and I collected it to raise it in safety* at home. Since it was dark, I decided to wait until the following morning to take a picture. However, I saw at 5:30 a.m. it had already pupated. I was very busy that morning and placed the pupa temporarily with some Green Hawk Moth pupae, intending to deal with it later. Unfortunately, I forgot about it and left it with the other pupae until it eclosed on Aug 20, 2017 at 2.15 p.m. I was surprised to see this “stranger” eclosed amongst the P. acteus specimens, but also delighted to have my first Daphnis nerii . I released it in the garden that evening. It was obviously ready for flight, having eclosed several hours earlier, but it did not want to let go of my fingers. So I placed it on a Palong-manok (Celosia argentea) and went back to check it from time to time. On the second visit it was gone. *See my notes on spotting 1768230475