''Degmaptera mirabilis'', the variegated hawkmoth, is a species of
moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
of the family
Sphingidae. It is known from
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
, north-eastern
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, northern
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
,
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
.
The habitat consists of high altitude evergreen oak forests.
The
wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...
is 44–82 mm. The hindwing costal edge is excavated resulting in a conspicuous subapical lobe, which projects anteriorly. There is a central row of pale golden dots on the abdomen upperside and a fawn-colored band on the forewing upperside.
The larvae have been recorded feeding on ''
Quercus fenestrata'' in the Khasi Hills in India
Smerinthulus mirabilis MHNT CUT 2010 0 244 Shillong Meghalaya India male dorsal.jpg, Male
Smerinthulus mirabilis MHNT CUT 2010 0 244 Shillong Meghalaya India male ventral.jpg, Male underside
References
Smerinthini
Moths described in 1894
{{Smerinthini-stub