![]() ![]() However, unlike the cocoons of many types of silkmoths, the exterior of Cephonodes hylas cocoons is not just made of silk they heavily rely on leaf litter, twigs, earth and dirt that they spin together with silk. Fully grown larvae do not burrow underground to pupate like most Sphingidae instead, they are one of the few Sphingidae species that can spin a cocoon. The pupae, however, can overwinter, which is exactly what they do in more temperate climates, where they can survive mild to colder winters, including snowfall and frost. In the tropical regions, they are most likely nearly continuously brooded, producing two to four generations in one year. The larvae can be raised on it from egg to adult, however.ĭepending on the geographical location they seem to have one to several generations a year it mainly depends on if the local climate allows it or not. It is unclear if privet (Ligustrum sp.) is a ‘true’ host plant utilised in the wild or simply a substitute host plant, since it is a convient food plant commonly used by hobbyists in the hobby moth breeding scene. (Olaceae) is another food plant it has been recorded on on the wild. It has been reported that larvae also feed from a few kinds of non-Rubiaceae plants such as Ervatamia angustisepala (Apocynaceae), Lonicera (Caprifoliaceae) – and suprisingly Ligustrum sp. They feed from flowers in mid-air by hovering above them and extending their proboscis to access the nectar. ![]() Much like most members of the hummingbird hawkmoth subfamily, the adult moths can beat their wings in a very rapid fashion and appear to float in a hummingbird like way they are able to hover, make sudden and sharp turns and can even fly backwards. The moths are day active and rest at night. For this reason they are also encountered in suburban habitats, where the adults are famously seen visiting flowers in gardens and parks. Randia, Catunaregam, Wendlandia, Ixora and Kraussia lanceolata – the list includes a few plants host of (agri)cultural value such as Gardenia, and Coffea (coffee). The caterpillars mainly feed from a wide range of Rubiaceae plants, including but not limited to Adina sp., Guettarda speciosa, Pavetta mollissima , Haldina, Mitragyna, Mussaenda, Morelia senegalensis , Canthium odoratum. This, they suggest, would make the wings nearly imperceptible to other insect and vertebrate predators and parasites, which make them the ultimate invisibility cloaks.Cephonodes hylas, known as the ‘coffeebean hawkmoth’ or ‘pellucid hawkmoth’, is a type of clear winged hummingbird hawkmoth (Macroglossinae) with a large distribution found throughout the warmer parts of the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Publishing in the journal Zoological Science, they found that, compared with the fake moth wing, the real transparent beauties decreased the light reflectance by almost 50 percent across a broad range of light spectra. To test this theory, Yoshida’s team created a smooth pellucid hawk moth wing by wiping its protuberances away without damaging its delicate structure, and compared how it reflected light beside a real hawk moth wing. Being so similar physically, could these two surfaces serve the same function? In 2006, a team led by Akihiro Yoshida from the Yuhki Science School in Kyoto, Japan, discovered that the transparent wings of the pellucid hawk moth contained on their surface “ a highly ordered array of nanosized protuberences“, which they compared to what’s known as a ‘ corneal nipple array‘ – the countless bumps on the surface of an insect’s eye that reduce reflectance. Having observed them at a nanoscale, researchers suspect the point is to achieve ‘ antireflection‘ – minimising the shine produced by a surface when the light hits it. So, you might be wondering what the point of them is, when coloured wings can serve so many functions, including communication, defence, thermoregulation, feeding, and waterproofing. Just a handful of species in order Lepidoptera, which includes all butterflies and moths, have scaleless, transparent wings. The largest of the species will develop a wingspan of over 7cm. Together with their green, yellow, or orange abdomens, banded in black, these clear, wispy wings give them the appearance of a great big bumblebee – hence the nickname of their genus, ‘the bee hawks’. ![]() ![]() When a pellucid hawk moth first emerges from its cocoon, the scales obscuring its stunning pair of transparent wings will begin to drop off, eventually revealing the species’ most distinctive trait. Locally, these caterpillars will snack on our native butterfly ( Pavetta australiensis) and banana bushes ( Ervatamia angustisepala), and the leaves of our introduced gardenia plants until they’re fat enough to construct a cocoon and undergo the rather gooey process of metamorphosis. ![]()
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