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ladobe

Macroglossum pyrrhosticta

ladobe
12 years ago

Sandy's thread about discovering A. titan reminded me of Macroglossum pyrrhosticta, and collecting and rearing it in Hawaii and the Philippines. Gives me something to share.

I first saw and reared this species in the Philippines while in the Navy over 40 years ago, but they were more enjoyable to do in Hawaii as I could share them with my family.

We had several places in Hawaii we'd visit just for this species, but probably the favorite was at the first place I was able to share them with my family at, Fort DeRussy on Waikiki where they flew in high numbers at dusk. When on business trips to Oahu we'd stayed in the Hilton Hawaiian Village right next door to DeRussy, so I was right on our way walking to dinner at our favorite place on Waikiki. There are many very large stands of Bougainvillea at DeRussy that this species visits every night at dusk. In the rapidly failing light they are like ghosts speeding from place to place and quite a challenge to put a net on.

On Oahu we mostly collected livestock at Makiki Valley on our way to do other species along the trails of the forest reserve there and on Mt. Tantalas. Another was at Waimanalo Bay. We found livestock on Paederia and Psychotria.

BTW, don't believe everything you read about this bug. Most references state it only flies from spring to summer, or to early fall in some places. In Hawaii it flies year round, and some of our best collecting for it was in December to March. And while it is diurnal and some individuals will be seen during the day in the right locations, it is the most abundant during those last magical minutes of late dusk, and for a couple of hours after full dark.

Larry

Here's some PD photo's of necturing, a larva, one of the stands of Bougainvillae at Fort DeRussy and their host plants.

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For reference this is Fort Derussy Waikiki's Beach Park with the Hilton Hawaiian Village behind it. We usually stayed in the A1i'i Tower (between the Rainbow and Diamond Head Towers in this picture).

{{gwi:545684}}

Comments (9)

  • butterflymomok
    12 years ago

    That's another beautiful moth! And, as always, enjoy your story about finding them. You can relate a "find" to almost every aspect of your life. I think that's incredible!

    Your larva photo reminded me that last week, I found a horn worm on the Coral Porter weed (Stachytarpheta mutabilis). It was absolutely huge. I didn't remove it, so it's probably made a cocoon somewhere at the foot of the plant. I did photograph the larva. Now I'm curious as to which moth it will become. At the time, I just thought it was one of the same horn worms as I find on the Tomato plants. Could still be. I'll have to compare my photos to some online pictures. And I may have to do a little treasure hunting in the garden--look for some lose soil and see if I can find a rather large cocoon.

    Sandy

  • MissButterfly
    12 years ago

    That's interesting, Larry! My titan moth visited the flowers in my garden late in the evening for about a week, so the late evening/dusk thing is the same.
    These hummingbird moths are among my favorite moths - 'too cute for words!
    Sherry

  • ladobe
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Sandy,
    Hard not to have a lot of "finds" when you've spent the number of "lep" hours in the field I have.
    Sight unseen, on that plant and with the larval size I'll venture a guess that your hornworm was a Manduca rustica.

    Sherry,
    I tried hard at first not to get too involved with the Sphingidae. I was more interested in going deep into the Saturniidae and Arctiidae instead. But as you say, they just don't lend themselves well to being ignored, so they soon became my third Macroheterocera specialty.

    Larry

  • butterflymomok
    12 years ago

    Larry,

    I compared my photo to the Manduca rustica, and I'm pretty sure you are a good guesser. This will be a new one for me, but not a new one for our area.

    Thanks.

  • Ament
    12 years ago

    Ah missed chances, My ex was stationed at Hickam AFB for 3 yrs. Shoulda, woulda, coulda... LoL Too bad I was not into these lovelies, nor spotted this particular one. I have been to the park pictured, as well as the hotel too.

    Thank you Larry, for bringing back some very good memories for me. If I could, I would move back to Hawai'i. Lovely place to live. :)

    ~Tina

  • ladobe
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Tina,
    I never went to Hickam, but Fort Shafter was one of my customers when I was in Honolulu on business. Our place was on Maui, but island fever prevented us from trying to live there year round even after I retired from that business. Lots of nice people there (the natives) so a great place to live maybe if the "smallness" doesn't bother you like it did us after a short time.
    L.

  • tomatoworm59
    12 years ago

    Intersting, Larry. The moth looks a little Hemaris-like, while the larva looks hauntingly Derapsis.

  • ladobe
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Derapsis? I assume you mean Darapsa (Macroglossinae).

  • ladobe
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Well, I guess you are not going to clarify what you were referring to. There is no "Derapsis" classification in Sphingidae, never has been, nor for any other organism for that matter I can determine. Taxonomy is the best reference there is for all concerned to be on the same page... if it is used correctly, and worthless if not.

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