Cephonodes hylas

Cephonodes hylas, the coffee bee hawkmoth, pellucid hawk moth or coffee clearwing, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1771. A widely distributed moth, it is found in the Near East, Middle East, Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Southeast Asia and Australia.^[1][2]

Cephonodes hylas
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Genus:	Cephonodes
Species:	C. hylas
Binomial name
Cephonodes hylas (Linnaeus, [1771])
Synonyms
Sphinx hylas Linnaeus, [1771]

Description

It has transparent wings and a stout body like a bumble bee.^[3] Its wingspan of 45–73  mm. Its marginal borders are very narrow and black. The abdomen varies in colour from yellow to green. Nominate subspecies has bright reddish 3rd and 4th abdominal segments. Larva has two colour forms, green and blackish. In greenish form, the body is greenish with a white-bordered blue dorsal line and a whitish sub-dorsal line ending in a yellow streak at the base of the horn. The head and spiracles are blue.^[4] In the dark-coloured form, the head is brown or pale orange and the rest of the body is smoky black. The pupa is dark brown.

Pellucid hawk moth with clear wings, hovering and sucking nectar from flowers using proboscis, Hyderabad, India.

• 
  Dorsal male
  (from the collection of the MHNT)
• 
  Ventral male
  (coll. MHNT)
• 
  Dorsal female
  (coll. MHNT)
• 
  Ventral female
  (coll. MHNT)

Ecology

Larvae are sluggish but eat very greedily and continuously. Its larvae feed on Burchellia, Gardenia, Kraussia, Pavetta and Vangueria species. Parasitoids such as Ooencyrtus papilionis and Blepharipa zebrine are found on larva.^[5][6]

Subspecies

• Cephonodes hylas hylas - (Linnaeus 1771) (Sri Lanka to China and Japan)
• Cephonodes hylas australis - Kitching & Cadiou, 2000 (Australia)
• Cephonodes hylas melanogaster - Cadiou, 1998 (Indonesia)
• Cephonodes hylas virescens - (Wallengren, 1865) (Ethiopian Region including Madagascar and the Seychelles)

• 
  Cephonodes hylas larvae on Catunaregam spinosa in Hyderabad, India
• 
  Cephonodes hylas larvae on Catunaregam spinosa in Hyderabad
• 
  Cephonodes hylas larvae on Catunaregam spinosa in Hyderabad
• 
  Cephonodes hylas larvae on Catunaregam spinosa in Hyderabad
• 
  Pellucid hawk moth in Bangalore, India