Asota speciosa ( Drury, 1773 )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 272

Asota speciosa ( Drury, 1773) ( Fig. 32 )

COMMON NAME (S): Specious Tiger. SYNONYM(S): Hypsa subretracta Walker, 1856a ; Hypsa undulifera Walker, 1856a ; Aganais aphidas Hopffer, 1857 ; Pseudhypsa baumanniana Karsch, 1895b ; Aganais conspicua Swinhoe, 1903b .

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia,

Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Oman, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa,

Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Mongu, in Western Province ; Kasempa, in Northwestern Province; Kabwe and an unnamed location [Latitude, - 12.55529° South; 30.29519° East], in Central Province .

LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): Host plants of the taxon include: two Moraceae species ( Ficus thonningii Blume and Ficus carica L.) in South Africa ( Fawcett 1901; Platt 1921); one Moraceae species yet to be identified ( Ficus sp. ) in Cameroon

( Schultze 1914); and two yet to be identified Apocynaceae species (Acocanthera sp. and Carissa sp. )

in unnamed African country or countries ( Pinhey 1975). Two Apocynaceae species ( Acokanthera sp.

and Carissa sp. ), one Moraceae species ( Antiaris toxicaria (Pers.) Lesch. ), one Meliaceae species

( Entandrophragma cylindricum Sprague ) and six Moraceae species ( Ficus carica L., F. saussureana

DC., F. natalensis Hochst. , F. sur Forssk. , Ficus thonningii Blume and F. trichopoda Baker ) are larval foodplants of this taxon ( African Moths 2019).

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Fawcett 1901; Ķhne 2007; Pinhey 1975; Platt 1921; Scan-bugs Organization 2019a; Schultze 1914.

Genus Carpostalagma Karsch, 1894

Figures

FIGURES 32–34. Adult moths. 32a, Agrius convolvuli (Linnaeus, 1758)—Convolvulus Hawk (Sphingidae: Sphinginae) caught by black light trap in Lusaka, 31 March 2020, dorsal view; 32b, ditto, ventral view. 33a, Basiothia medea (Fabricius, 1781)—Small Verdant Hawk (Sphingidae: Macroglossinae) collected at a black light trap in Lusaka, 10 January 2011, dorsal view; 33b, ditto ventral view. 34a, Daphnis nerii (Linnaeus, 1758)—Oleander Hawk (Sphingidae: Macroglossinae) caught by a black light trap in Lusaka, 25 April 2011, dorsal view; 34b, ditto ventral view. Scale bar 2 cm. © Kind permission of the University of Zambia.