''Theretra'' is a genus of

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 ...

s 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 ...

. The genus was established by

Jacob Hübner Jacob Hübner (20 June 1761 – 13 September 1826, in Augsburg) was a German entomologist. He was the author of ''Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge'' (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology. Scientific career Hübner was the author of '' ...

in 1819.

Species

Theretra alecto MHNT CUT 2010 0 245 Aurangabad Maharashtra female.jpg, ''

Theretra alecto ''Theretra alecto'', the Levant hawk moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Distribution It is found in the Indomalayan realm and warm parts ...

'' Theretra boisduvalii MHNT CUT 2010 0 136 Doi Inthanon Chiang Mai female.jpg, '' Theretra boisduvalii'' Theretra castanea MHNT CUT 2010 0 128 Mahabaleshwar India.jpg, '' Theretra castanea'' Theretra celata MHNT CUT 2010 0 254 Cooktown Queensland Australia male.jpg, '' Theretra celata'' Theretra clotho MHNT CUT 2010 0 18 Thailande Khao Yai National Park female.jpg, '' Theretra clotho'' Theretra gnoma MHNT CUT 2010 0 103 Aurangabad Maharashtra India male.jpg, '' Theretra gnoma'' Theretra incarnata MHNT CUT 2010 0 103 Australia male.jpg, '' Theretra incarnata'' Theretra indistincta MHNT CUT 2010 0 288 Cooktown Australia female.jpg, '' Theretra indistincta'' Theretra japonica MHNT CUT 2010 0 193 TamaGawa, Shizuoka Japan female.jpg, ''

Theretra japonica ''Theretra japonica'' is a moth of the family Sphingidae first described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1869. Distribution It is found in Japan, China, Korea and Russia. Description The wingspan is 55–80 mm. Theretra japonica MHNT C ...

'' Theretra latreillii MHNT CUT 2010 0 376 Ban Kheum Laos female.jpg, '' Theretra latreillii'' Theretra lycetus MHNT CUT 2010 0 518 Ban Kheum Laos - male.jpg, '' Theretra lycetus'' Theretra manilae MHNT CUT 2010 0 128 Philipines Male.jpg, '' Theretra manilae'' Theretra margarita MHNT CUT 2010 0 305 Cooktown Queensland Australia female.jpg, '' Theretra margarita'' Theretra nessus MHNT CUT 2010 0 354 Mudumalai Nilgiris Inde Male.jpg, ''

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 ...

'' Theretra oldenlandiae MHNT CUT 2010 0 308 Chiang Mai Thailand female.jpg, '' Theretra oldenlandiae'' Theretra pallicosta MHNT CUT 2010 0 238 Ban Kheum Laos male.jpg, '' Theretra pallicosta'' Theretra polistratus MHNT CUT 2010 0 103 New Guinea.jpg, '' Theretra polistratus'' Theretra queenslandi MHNT CUT 2010 0 103 Wau, Papua New Guinea male.jpg, '' Theretra queenslandi'' Theretra radiosa MHNT CUT 2010 0 103 Wau, Papua New Guinea male.jpg, ''

Theretra radiosa ''Theretra radiosa'' is a moth of the family Sphingidae. Distribution It is known from Papua New Guinea and Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Austral ...

'' Theretra rhesus MHNT CUT 2010 0 288 Wushae Taiwan female.jpg, '' Theretra rhesus'' Theretra silhetensis MHNT CUT 2010 0 305 Phu Phan National Park Thailand male.jpg, '' Theretra silhetensis'' Theretra suffusa MHNT CUT 2010 0 194 Sumatra female.jpg, ''

Theretra suffusa ''Theretra suffusa'' is a moth of the family Sphingidae. Distribution It is known from Nepal, north-eastern India, Thailand, southern China, Taiwan, southern Japan (Ryukyu Archipelago), Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Andaman Islands, Malaysia ( ...

'' Theretra tryoni MHNT CUT 2010 0 376 Wau, Morobe Dist. New Guinea male.jpg, ''

Theretra tryoni ''Theretra tryoni'' is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It is known from Papua New Guinea, Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales. The wingspan is about 70 mm. The larvae feed on ''Alocasia macrorrhizos'', ''Colocasia esculenta'' a ...

Ecology

Pollination

Several species of the genus ''Theretra'', namely ''

'' and ''

'', have been reported to pollinate the orchid species ''

Vanda falcata ''Vanda falcata'', also known as 风兰 (feng lan) in Chinese, 풍란 (pungnan) in Korean, 風蘭 (fūran) in Japanese, or the ''wind orchid'' in English, is a species of orchid found in China, Korea, and Japan. It was formerly classified in the ...

''.Suetsugu, K., Tanaka, K., Okuyama, Y., & Yukawa, T. (2015)
"Potential pollinator of ''Vanda falcata'' (Orchidaceae): ''Theretra'' (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) hawkmoths are visitors of long spurred orchid."
European Journal of Entomology, 112(2), 393.

References

Macroglossini Sphingidae genera Taxa named by Jacob Hübner {{Theretra-stub