''Coelonia solani'' is a

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

of the family

Sphingidae The Sphingidae are a family of moths commonly called sphinx moths, also colloquially known as hawk moths, with many of their caterpillars known as hornworms. It includes about 1,450 species. It is best represented in the tropics, but species ar ...

. It is known from

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

(formerly known as Île Bourbon),

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

and the

Comoro Islands The Comoro Islands are a group of volcanic islands in the Mozambique Channel, an arm of the Indian Ocean lying between Madagascar and the African mainland. Three of the islands form the Union of the Comoros, a sovereign nation, while Mayotte bel ...

. It is a pollinator of some species of

baobab ''Adansonia'' is a genus of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). The eight species of ''Adansonia'' are native to Africa, Australia, and Madagascar but have also been introduced to other regions of the world, including Barb ...

in Madagascar, including ''

Adansonia za ''Adansonia za'' is a species of baobab in the genus ''Adansonia'' of the family Malvaceae (previously included in the Bombacaceae). It was originally named in French as . Common names in Malagasy include , , , , , and , the last of which giv ...

''.Baum, D.A., 1995, A Systematic Revision of Adansonia (Bombacaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden , 1995, Vol. 82, No. 3 (1995), pp. 440-471 It is notable for having an extremely long proboscis (up to 19 cm long), approaching that of another more famous Malagasy sphinx moth, ie, ''

Xanthopan morganii praedicta ''Xanthopan'' is a monotypic genus of sphinx moth, with ''Xanthopan morganii'' (often misspelled as "''morgani''"), commonly called Morgan's sphinx moth, as its sole species. It is a very large Sphingidae, sphinx moth from Southern Africa (Zimbab ...

,'' which has a proboscis length of over 20 cm

Subspecies

*''Coelonia solani solani'' (Mauritius, Réunion, Madagascar) *''Coelonia solani comoroana'' Clark, 1927 (Comoros)

References

Acherontiini Moths described in 1833 Moths of Madagascar Moths of the Comoros Moths of Mauritius Moths of Réunion Taxa named by Jean Baptiste Boisduval {{Sphinginae-stub