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Hippotion boerhaviae Fabricius
Sphinx boerhaviae Fabricius, 1775, Syst. Ent., p. 542
Hippotion boerhaviae Fabricius; Rothschild & Jordan
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Hippotion boerhaviae 
(.83
natural size)
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Diagnosis. See Hippotion echeclus Boisduval. The forewings of the next species are
deeper, marginally more bowed, usually with a darkish shading anteriorly
at about two thirds. In boerhaviae the forewing shape is more as in
echeclus but the hindwing lacks a black basal zone, the forewing is more
strongly banded (though lacking the discal shading of rosetta). The most
reliable distinguishing feature for boerhaviae and rosetta is in the male
genitalia: in the former the juxta is short, distally rounded to obtusely
triangular; in the latter the juxta is long, distally acutely triangular.
Other differences in the male genitalia are illustrated by Dupont &
Roepke (1941).
Taxonomic notes. Dupont & Roepke (1941) showed that there were two
very similar species flying in Java. The morphological characteristics
distinguishing them have just been described; larval differences in Java
are mentioned below. Dissection of material from extremes of the range
have shown that the juxta character is reliable throughout.
A number of names have been placed in synonymy with boerhaviae (e.g in
Rothschild & Jordan, 1903). The types of boerhaviae, minus
Fabricius,
and vampyrus Fabricius are probably lost (Zimsen, 1964, The Type Material
of I.C. Fabricius) as may be that of octopunctala Gmelin. It is unclear
from the original illustration of pinastrina Martyn whether this refers to
boerhaviae or echeclus; it lacks black basally on the hindwing and hence
is perhaps best placed in synonymy with boerhaviae, which should be fixed
on the species indicated by Dupont & Roepke, with minus, octopunctata
and vampyris also as synonyms. The holotype of rosetta Swinhoe (UM Oxford)
has been examined and shows that name to be a senior synonym of depictum
Dupont & Roepke
Geographical range. Japan, Indo-Australian tropics to New Caledonia
Habitat preference. This species is very much less frequent than the next
in Borneo. Two specimens were taken on G. Kinabalu at Bundu Tuhan and
Kundasan at just over 1000m. All other material referred to by Holloway
(1976) and Harman (1981) is of the species.
Biology. Dupont & Roepke
(1941) only noted black larvae for this species. They have large ocellar
markings on A1 with a black centre, white spotted, and ringed reddish
brown and black. The remaining abdominal segments have smaller ocelli,
greyish black ringed with black. There is a dorsolateral line over the
thorax, continued as a row of white dots above the ocelli over the
abdominal segments. The long horn is black, reddish at the base and
white-tipped.
Dupont & Roepke (1941) recorded Oldenlandia (Rubiaceae) as the only
host-plant. Records in the literature (Bell & Scott, 1937; Pholboon,
1965; Yunus & Ho, 1980; Miyata, 1983) may refer to either boerhaviae
or the next species and are: Amaranthus (Amaranthaceae); Impatiens
(Balsaminaceae);
Citrullus (Cucurbitaceae); Arachis (Leguminosae); Boerhavia
(Nyctaginaceae);
Knoxia, Morinda, Oldenlandia, Spermacoce (Rubiaceae); Glossostigma
(Scrophulariaceae);
Camellia (Theaceae).
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