Nephele accentifera

Nephele accentifera, the accented hawk, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Palisot de Beauvois in 1821. It is common in most habitats throughout the Ethiopian Region, excluding Madagascar and the Cape Peninsula.[2]

Accented hawk
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Genus:	Nephele
Species:	N. accentifera
Binomial name
Nephele accentifera (Palisot de Beauvois, 1821)[1]
Synonyms
Sphinx accentifera Palisot de Beauvois, 1821 Sphinx tridyma van der Hoeven, 1840 Deilephila ranzani Bertoloni, 1850 Nephele variegata Butler, 1875

The length of the forewings is 35–42 mm and the wingspan is 79–88 mm. The abdomen is heavily marked with black. The forewings are broad, with an evenly curved margin, boldly but irregularly marked with dark brown, grey and ochreous. The submarginal areas are dark brown with diffuse ochreous internervular spots at the termen. There is a very dark wedge shaped area with the apex at the inner margin, near the base. There is also a large ochreous apical area at the costa and a similar but smaller spot between the costa and stigma. The stigma consists of three silvery white commas converging rather like the spokes of a wheel. The hindwings are dark olive brown with a blackish margin.

The larvae feed on the leaves of Ficus sur[3] and Ficus natalensis.

References

1. "CATE Creating a Taxonomic eScience - Sphingidae". Cate-sphingidae.org. Archived from the original on 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
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.
3. "Ficus sur Forssk". Flora of Zimbabwe. Retrieved 31 December 2012.