Smerinthini

Smerinthus planus, photographed by yyzz2.

Belongs within: Sphingidae.

The Smerinthini is a group of hawk moths with a commonly reduced proboscis. Members of the subtribe Smerinthina do not feed as adults, but members of the Ambulycina do so.

See also: The sphinxes that aren't like the others.

Characters (from here): Forewing primarily yellow-brown, greyish lilac or green, with a few crossbands and spots. Hindwing usually with a brownish or reddish brown field; crossbands reduced to a pale or ocellate spot at anal angle. Proboscis often atrophied. Spines on caudal margins of abdominal terga generally diffuse. Male with uncus variable, with a flat, entire or split tip; gnathos absent, bilobate or entire; sacculus with two simple or bilobate processes and pectens; saccus not well developed; aedeagus relatively short and often with a stout apical cornutus. Valva often with pouches on inner surface distally. Female with ductus bursa usually broad and short. Larva with horn usually developed; cuticle rough with fine tubercles; oblique lateral stripes present, sometimes in combination with longitudinal lines; body usually tapering forward from abdominal segment 5. Pupa with proboscis fused to body; labrum displaced ventrally; abdominal segments 5-7 with 1-4 interrupted, punctate furrows over each spiracle.

<==Smerinthini
    |  i. s.: Amplypterus panopus AJ05
    |         Daphnusa ocellaris AJ05
    |         Pachysphinx modesta (Harris 1839) P93
    |--Ambulycina [Ambulicinae] P93
    |    |--Akbesia Rothschild & Jordan 1903 P93
    |    |    `--*A. davidi (Oberthür 1884) [=Smerinthus davidi] P93
    |    `--Ambulyx Walker 1856 [incl. Protambulyx Rothschild & Jordan 1903] P93
    |         |--A. canescens AJ05
    |         |--‘Protambulyx’ carteri DS73
    |         |--A. joiceyi AJ05
    |         |--A. lahora (Butler 1875) P93
    |         |--A. moorei Moore 1858 [incl. A. subocellata Felder & Felder 1874] NS07
    |         |--A. pryeri AJ05
    |         `--‘Protambulyx’ strigilis DS73
    |              |--P. s. strigilis DS73
    |              `--P. s. rubripennis DS73
    `--Smerinthina P93
         |--Mimas Hübner 1819 [incl. Lucena Rambur 1840] P93
         |    `--*M. tiliae (Linnaeus 1758) P93 (see below for synonymy)
         |--Marumba Moore 1882 [incl. Burrowsia Tutt 1902, Kayeia Tutt 1902, Sichia Tutt 1902] P93
         |    |--*M. dyras (Walker 1856) [=Smerinthus dyras] P93
         |    |--M. gaschkewitschii P93
         |    |--M. jankowskii P93
         |    |--M. maacki P93
         |    `--M. quercus (Denis & Schiffermüller 1775) (see below for synonymy) P93
         |--Laothoe Fabricius 1807 [incl. Amorpha Hübner 1806 (nom. inv.)] P93
         |    |--*L. populi (Linnaeus 1758) [=Sphinx populi] P93
         |    |    |--L. p. populi (see below for synonymy) P93
         |    |    `--L. p. populeti (Bienert 1870) (see below for synonymy) P93
         |    |--L. amurensis (Staudinger 1892) (see below for synonymy) P93
         |    |--L. austauti (Staudinger 1877) (see below for synonymy) P93
         |    |--L. philerema (Djakonov 1923) [=Amorpha populi philerema, L. populi philerema] P93
         |    `--L. sinica (Rothschild & Jordan 1903) [=L. amurensis sinica] P93
         `--Smerinthus Latreille 1802 (see below for synonymy) P93
              |--*S. ocellatus (Linnaeus 1758) [=Sphinx ocellata] P93
              |    |--S. o. ocellatus (see below for synonymy) P93
              |    `--S. o. atlanticus Austaut 1890 [incl. S. ocellata protai Speidel & Kaltenbach 1981] P93
              |--S. caecus Ménétriés 1857 P93
              |--S. jamaicensis (Drury 1773) ONE03
              |--S. kindermanni Lederer 1853 P93
              |    |--S. k. kindermanni P93
              |    |--S. k. meridionalis Gehlen 1931 P93
              |    |--S. k. obsoletus Staudinger 1901 P93
              |    `--S. k. orbatus Grum-Grshimailo 1890 [=S. kindermanni var. orbata] P93
              |--S. minor P93
              |--S. planus Walker 1856 P93
              `--S. tatarinovii P01

Laothoe amurensis (Staudinger 1892) [=Smerinthus tremulae var. amurensis; incl. L. tremulae baltica Viĭdalep 1979, S. tremulae Boisduval 1828 non Sphinx tremulae Borkhausen 1793] P93

Laothoe austauti (Staudinger 1877) [=Smerinthus austauti, L. populi austauti; incl. S. poupillieri Bellier 1878] P93

Laothoe populi populeti (Bienert 1870) [=Smerinthus populeti; incl. S. populi var. populetorum Staundinger 1887, Amorpha populi syriaca Gehlen 1932] P93

Laothoe populi populi (Linnaeus 1758) [incl. L. populi iberica Eitschberger, Danner & Surholt 1989, Amorpha populi intermedia Gehlen 1934, A. populi lappona Rangnow 1935, A. palustris Holle 1865, Sphinx tremulae Borkhausen 1793] P93

Marumba quercus (Denis & Schiffermüller 1775) [=Sphinx quercus; incl. M. quercus mesopotamica Bang-Haas 1938, M. quercus schirasi Bang-Haas 1938] P93

*Mimas tiliae (Linnaeus 1758) P93 [=Sphinx tiliae P93, Smerinthus tiliae L02; incl. M. tiliae f. brunnea P93, M. tiliae f. lutescens P93, M. tiliae montana Daniel & Wolfsberger 1955 P93, M. tiliae f. obsoleta P93, M. tiliae f. pallida P93, M. tiliae f. transversa P93, Papilio ulmi Lucas 1864 P93, M. tiliae f. virescens P93]

Smerinthus Latreille 1802 [incl. Bebroptera Sodoffsky 1837, Bellia Tutt 1902 (preoc.), Bellinca Strand 1943, Copismerinthus Grote 1886, Daddia Tutt 1902, Dilina Dalman 1816, Eusmerinthus Grote 1877, Merinthus Meigen 1830] P93

Smerinthus ocellatus ocellatus (Linnaeus 1758) [incl. Sm. ocellatus ocellatus f. albescens, Sm. cinerescens Staudinger 1879, Sm. ocellatus ocellatus f. flavescens, Sm. ocellatus ocellatus f. ollivryi, Sm. ocellatus ocellatus f. pallida, Sm. ocellatus ocellatus f. rosea, Sphinx salicis Hübner 1805, Sp. semipavo Retzius 1783] P93

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[AJ05] Abang, F., & A. M. Jackson. 2005. A list of hawk-moths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) from Gunung Murud, Sarawak. Serangga 10 (1-2): 127–132.

[DS73] Dickens, M., & E. Storey. 1973. The World of Moths. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.: New York.

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[NS07] Nässig, W. A., & W. Speidel. 2007. On the authorships of the Lepidoptera Atlas of the “Reise der Novara”, with a list of the taxa of Bombycoidea [s. l.] therein described (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Bombycoidea). Senckenbergiana Biologica 87 (1): 63–74.

[ONE03] Oberprieler, R. G., W. A. Nässig & E. D. Edwards. 2003. Ebbepterote, a new genus for the Australian ‘Eupterote’ expansa (T. P. Lucas), with a revised classification of the family Eupterotidae (Lepidoptera). Invertebrate Systematics 17: 99–110.

[P01] Pável, J. 1901. Lepkék [Lepidopteren]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 171–177. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[P93] Pittaway, A. R. 1993. The Hawkmoths of the Western Palaearctic. Harley Books: Colchester.

Last updated: 15 August 2017.