Thanks Arundhati, you just added a new species to my repertoire! :-) Warm regards,
Ashwin Baindur ________________________________ From: arundhati patil <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Sent: Tue, 17 August, 2010 13:23:11 Subject: Re: [ButterflyIndia] Lepidopteran extravaganza on Din ka raja Its a Bee Hawk Moth (Cephonodes hylas) . This is a green individual , An Orange individual also found in Yeeor - Thane . Its food plant is gardenia. Common Name : Hummingbird hawk moth , is also used for same individual. --- On Mon, 8/16/10, Ashwin Baindur <[email protected]> wrote: >From: Ashwin Baindur <[email protected]> >Subject: [ButterflyIndia] Lepidopteran extravaganza on Din ka raja >To: [email protected], "Indianmoths" ><[email protected]> >Date: Monday, August 16, 2010, 2:24 PM > > > >Two years ago, when we came to the Bungalow No 180 in CME, we had planted Din >ka raja in our garden. Over time the plants have grown more than twelve feet >high and as of now have thousands of flowers. The garden has a nice gentle >fragrance throughout the day and the two bushes have many visitors by day and >dusk. Of course, there were hoverflies, bees, tiny flies and so on. I strongly >recommend you to plant Din ka raja (Cestrum diurnum), (yes even though it is >exotic), it is a fabulous nectar resource for Lepidoptera. > >The most interesting of the visitors is the Common Jay which is found in CME >but >rarely in other parts of Pune. In the dusk today I dscovered two interesting >species - many Common Banded Awls and three to four hawk moths which appear to >be bee-hawk or hummingbird hawk moths of some kind. > >The hawk moths were very swift, flew high and darted rapidly - very difficult >for me to film. However, a chancy swipe with my butterfly net allowed me to >trap >a moth - I could only take images of the front and rear for fear of hurting >the >insect. Fortunately,, I was able to do so without harming it and it sped off >at >light speed into the dusky sky. > >While sipping, they were so absorbed that I could bring the handle of the >butterfly net within a few inches. Pushing the flower branch didn't pset them, >they moved with the flowers, When I caught one speciemens, the others resumed >feeding almost immediately. It was as ifthey were starving and suddenly found >lots of nectar and wanted to drink it all before sme one else got there. > > >Can anyone id the moth? > > > -- Enjoy
