''Pergesa'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

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 ...

genus in 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 ...

first described by Francis Walker in 1856. Its only species, ''Pergesa acteus'', the green pergesa hawkmoth, was described by

Pieter Cramer Pieter Cramer (21 May 1721 (baptized) – 28 September 1776) was a wealthy Netherlands, Dutch merchant in linen and Spanish wool, remembered as an entomologist. Cramer was the director of the Zealand Society, a scientific society located in Flushin ...

in 1779.

Distribution

It is found in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, eastern and southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

(the

Ryukyu Archipelago The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

(

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

) and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 64–80 mm.

Head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

and

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

are purplish grey, which differs from ''

Theretra nessus ''Theretra nessus'', the yam hawk moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It was described by Dru Drury in 1773. Distribution It is found in Sri Lanka, India (including the Andaman and Nicobar islands), Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, so ...

''. Vertex of head and a dorso-lateral stripe to thorax and abdomen is green.

Forewings Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insect flight, insects to fly. They are found on the second and third Thorax (insect anatomy), thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often ...

are purplish grey with a green oblique central area from below apex to inner margin with some indistinct lines on it. There is an irregular dark outer area with some yellow inside it. Hindwings with anal patch and submarginal band are pointed.

Larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e are greenish with a dark dorsal line, and a subdorsal pale line on thoracic

somite The somites (outdated term: primitive segments) are a set of bilaterally paired blocks of paraxial mesoderm that form in the embryogenesis, embryonic stage of somitogenesis, along the head-to-tail axis in segmentation (biology), segmented animals. ...

s. The fourth somite has a large

ocellus A simple eye or ocellus (sometimes called a pigment pit) is a form of eye or an optical arrangement which has a single lens without the sort of elaborate retina that occurs in most vertebrates. These eyes are called "simple" to distinguish the ...

, which is white ringed with brown and centered with blue and green. The ocelli on the fifth to tenth somites are bluish with yellow centers. Lateral area is greenish and horn is yellowish. The caterpillars feed on '' Alocasia odora'', ''

Syngonium podophyllum ''Syngonium podophyllum'' is a species of aroid that is a popular houseplant. Common names include: arrowhead plant, arrowhead vine, arrowhead philodendron, goosefoot, nephthytis, African evergreen, and American evergreen. The species is native ...

'', ''

Amorphophallus ''Amorphophallus'' is a large genus of some 200 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the arum family (Araceae), native to Asia, Africa, Australia and various oceanic islands. The genus includes the Titan arum (''A. titanum'') ...

'', ''

Arisaema ''Arisaema'' is a large and diverse genus of the flowering plant family Araceae. The largest concentration of species is in China and Japan, with other species native to other parts of southern Asia as well as eastern and central Africa, Mexico ...

'', ''

Caladium ''Caladium'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. They are often known by the common name elephant ear (which they share with the closely related genera ''Alocasia'', ''Colocasia'', and ''Xanthosoma''), heart of Jesus, and ang ...

'', ''

Colocasia ''Colocasia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Some species are widely cultivated and naturalized in other tropical and subtropical regions. The names elephant-ear and ...

'', ''

Dieffenbachia ''Dieffenbachia'' , commonly known as dumb cane or leopard lily, is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family (biology), family Araceae. It is native to the New World Tropics from Mexico and the West Indies south to Argentina. Some spec ...

'', ''

Begonia ''Begonia'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Begoniaceae. The genus contains more than 2,000 different plant species. The Begonias are native to moist subtropical and tropical climates. Some species are commonly grown ...

'', ''

Commelina ''Commelina'' is a genus of approximately 208 species commonly called dayflowers due to the short lives of their flowers. They are less often known as widow's tears. It is by far the largest genus of its family, Commelinaceae. The Swedish taxonom ...

'', ''

Leea ''Leea'' (Tagalog language, Tagalog: ''Talyantan'') is a genus of plants in the family Vitaceae, subfamily Leeoideae, that are native to parts of central Africa, tropical Asia, Australia and Melanesia. It was previously placed in its own family, ...

'', ''

Cissus ''Cissus'' is a genus of approximately 350 species of lianas (Woody plant, woody vines) in the grape family (Vitaceae). They have a cosmopolitan distribution, though the majority are to be found in the tropics. Decription Extrafloral nectaries ...

'' and ''

Vitis ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...

'' species. Pergesa acteus MHNT CUT 2010 0 358 Padang Bovenlanden, Sumatra, Indonesie, male dorsal.jpg, Male dorsal Pergesa acteus MHNT CUT 2010 0 358 Padang Bovenlanden, Sumatra, Indonesie, male ventral.jpg, Male △ ventral Pergesa acteus MHNT CUT 2010 0 358 Poona Maharashtra India, female dorsal.jpg, Female dorsal Pergesa acteus MHNT CUT 2010 0 358 Poona Maharashtra India, female ventral.jpg, Female △ ventral Pergesa acteus (Thailand, Nonthaburi, Bang Bua Thong, Soi Mu Ban Bua Thong 4, 2.xi .2014) (D. Kruger) Eggs.jpg, Eggs Pergesa acteus (Thailand, Nonthaburi, Bang Bua Thong, Soi Mu Ban Bua Thong 5, 17.i.2015) (D. Kruger) L3 3.jpg, Caterpillar Pergesa acteus (Thailand, Nonthaburi, Bang Bua Thong, Soi Mu Ban Bua Thong 5, 25.i.2015) (D. Kruger) prepupa.jpg, Caterpillar File:Pergesa acteus (Thailand, Nonthaburi, Bang Bua Thong, Soi Mu Ban Bua Thong 4, 17.ix .2014) (D. Kruger) L5.jpg, Caterpillar with extended eyespot File:Pergesa acteus caterpillar 4.jpg, Caterpillar with eyespots in their resting state File:Pergesa acteus caterpillar 3.jpg, Front view with the head and the thoracic segments retracted into the body. File:Pergesa acteus caterpillar 2.jpg, Dorsal view of Pergesa acteus caterpillar. File:Pergesa acteus caterpillar.jpg, ''Pergesa acteus'' caterpillar from one side Pergesa acteus (Thailand, Nonthaburi, Bang Bua Thong, Soi Mu Ban Bua Thong 4, 17.ix .2014) (D. Kruger) pupa 3.jpg, Pupa Pergesa acteus lemon.jpg, Imago side

References

Macroglossini Moths described in 1779 Moths of Japan Monotypic moth genera Taxa named by Francis Walker (entomologist) Sphingidae genera {{Macroglossini-stub