Acherontia atropos ( Linnaeus, 1758 )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 189-190

Acherontia atropos ( Linnaeus, 1758) * ( Fig. 26 )

COMMON NAME (S): Death’s-Head Hawkmoth. SYNONYM(S): Acherontia sculda Kirby, 1877b . IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE). DISTRIBUTION: Albania, Algeria, Angola, Austria, Azores, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso,

Cameroon, Canary Islands, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus,

Czech Republic, Democratic Republc of Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia,

Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Guinea, Herzegovina, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Madeira, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia , Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Congo, Réunion, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Helena , Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, S„o Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkestan ( Turkmenistan), Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Mansa and Samfya, in Luapula Province ; Lusaka ** and Kafue **, in Lusaka Province ; Monze and Livingstone, in Southern Province ; Kitwe, Chingola and Ndola, in Copperbelt Province ; Solwezi, Kabompo and Mwinilunga, in Northwestern Province .

LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): Larval food plants include: two Verbenaceae species ( Lantana sp. and L. camara L.), two Solanaceae species ( Solanum jasminoides J. Paxton and S. tuberosum L.), one Oleaceae species ( Jasminum humile L.), one Bignoniaceae species ( Spathodea sp. ) and one Lamiaceae species ( Volkameria glabra (E.Mey.) Mabb. & Y.W.Yuan ) in South Africa ( Fawcett 1901; Platt 1921; Taylor 1949; van den Berg et al. 1975); two Solanaceae species ( Brugmansia suaveolens (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Bercht. & J.Presl and Solanum surattense Burm. f. ) in Saint Helena ( Karisch 2001); one Verbenaceae species ( Duranta erecta L.) in the Réunion ( Martiré & Rochat 2008); one Solanaceae species ( Solanum macrocarpon L.) in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( Latham 2003); two Bignoniaceae species ( Tabebuia pallida (Lindl.) Miers and Tabebuia sp. ), two Lamiaceae species ( Clerodendrum thomsoniae Balf.f. and Coleus sp. ), one Cucurbitaceae species ( Momordica charantia L.), one Boraginaceae species ( Cordia subcordata Lam. ), one Verbenaceae species ( Stachytarpheta urticifolia (Salisb.) Sims ), one Lamiaceae species ( Clerodendrum sp. ), two Solanaceae species ( Brugmansia x candida Pers. and Datura metel L.) and one Convolvulaceae species ( Merremia peltata (L.) Merr.) in the Seychelles ( Legrand 1966; Lionnet 1984; Hill et al. 2002; Lawrence 2005; Matyot 2005). Two Solanaceae species ( Solanum tuberosum L. and S. torvum Sw. ), one Verbenaceae species ( Lantana camara L.) and two Lamiaceae species ( Clerodendrum splendens G.Don and C. paniculatum L.) in Nigeria ( Delf & Harris 1964; MacNulty 1967, 1970); two Solanaceae species ( Physalis angulata L. and another Physalis sp. ), three Verbenaceae species ( Tectona grandis L.f., Duranta erecta L. and Stachytarpheta cayennensis (Rich.) Vahl ) and one Lamiaceae species ( Volkameria inermis L.) in Côte d’Ivoire ( Vuattoux et al. 1989); one Solanaceae species ( Datura sp. ) in Cameroon ( Schultze 1914) and one Lamiaceae species ( Vitex sp. ) and one Oleaceae species ( Jasminum sp. ) from an unnamed African country or countries (; Linnaeus 1758; Aurivillius 1905b ).

The African Moths (2019) website simply lists the following as host plants of the taxon in the above named countries: four Solanaceae species ( Brugmansia suaveolens (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Bercht. & J.Presl , Solanum surattense Burm. f. , S. jasminoides J. Paxton and S. macrocarpon L.), two Bignoniaceae species ( Tabebuia pallida (Lindl.) Miersand Spathodea sp. ), one Lamiaceae species ( Clerodendrum ugandense (Hochst.) Steane & Mabb. ), one Cucurbitaceae species ( Mormordica charantia L.) one Oleaceae species ( Jasminum humile L.) and three Verbenaceae species ( Lantana camara L., Duranta erecta L. and Vitex sp. ).

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; Aurivillius 1905 ; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Delf & Harris 1964; Fawcett 1901; Hampson 1910c;

Hill et al. 2002; Karisch 2001; Latham 2003; Lawrence 2005; Legrand 1966; Linnaeus 1758; Lionnet 1984; MacNulty

1967, 1970; Martiré & Rochat 2008; Matyot 2005; Platt 1921; Schultze 1914; Taylor 1949; van den Berg et al. 1975;

Vuattoux et al. 1989.

Genus Afroclanis Carcasson, 1968

Figures

FIGURES 26–28. Adult moths. 26, Gonimbrasia belina (Westwood, 1894)—Anomalous Emperor or Mopane Worm. Kabwelume Falls area, Luapula Province, 28 September 2015; 26a, dorsal view; 26b, ditto, ventral view. 27, Heniocha dyops (Maassen, 1872)—Marbled Emperor, female (Saturniidae: Saturniinae), Riverside Motel (RIMO) in Kafue, 5 December 2010; 27a, dorsal view, 27b, ditto, ventral view. 28, Holocerina smilax smilax (Westwood, 1849)—Variable Prince (Saturniidae: Saturniinae), Riverside Motel (RIMO), Kafue, 10 April 2011; 28a, dorsal view; 28b, ditto, ventral view. Scale bar 2 cm. © Kind permission of the University of Zambia.