Batocnema africanus

Batocnema africanus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Genus:	Batocnema
Species:	B. africanus
Binomial name
	Batocnema africanus; (Distant, 1899)[1]
Synonyms
	Polyptychus africanus Distant, 1899;

Batocnema africanus is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It is known from open woodland and savanna from north-eastern South Africa to Zimbabwe, Tanzania and the Kenya coast.[2]

The length of the forewings is 30–33 mm for males and about 35 mm for females and the wingspan is 72–85 mm. The head and body are pale green and the tegulae and first abdominal tergite are dark green. The forewings are pale yellowish green shot with pink and mottled with darker green and yellow. There is a large dark green inner marginal spot at the base, a dark green wedge-shaped spot at the costa and a large quadrate dark green spot at the apex. The hindwings are yellow with a green border and a dark green spot at the tornus.

It is similar to Batocnema coquerelii, but the general pattern is paler and less contrasting.

The larvae feed on Sclerocarya caffra.

References

"CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
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 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.

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[1] "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. 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 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.