Updated as per The Known Sphingidae of Costa Rica, November 2007
Updated as per personal communication with Jose Monzon (Peten, Guatemala); May 2009
Updated as per AN ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF THE SPHINGIDAE OF BOLIVIA, December 2009
Updated as per CATE Sphingidae (Guyana, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua), May 11, 2011
Updated as per personal communication with Ezequiel Osvaldo Nunez Bustos (Yacutinga Private Reserve, Misiones, Argentina, September 11, 2010); September 27, 2011
Updated as per "A Hawk Moths fauna of southern Maranhao state, Brazil, ... "; NEVA: Jahrgang 34 Heft 3 November 2013; via Jean Haxaire; April 5, 2014
Updated as per personal communication with Sergio D. Rios Diaz in CATOLOGO DE LOS SPHINGIDAE (INSECTA: LEPIDOPTERA) DEPOSITADOS EN EL MUSEO NACIONAL DE HISTORIA NATURAL DEL PARAGUAY; sent to me in July 2014 by Sergio D. Rios Diaz.
Updated as per personal communication with Ezequiel Bustos (Shilap revta. lepid. 43 (172) diciembre, 2015, 615-631 eISSN 2340-4078 ISSN 0300-5267), January 4, 2016
Updated as per Hawk-moths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) of Trinidad, West Indies: an illustrated and annotated list; Matthew J.W. Cock; April 2, 2022

Madoryx bubastus bubastus
(Cramer, 1777) Sphinx bubastus

Madoryx bubastus bubastus male, Costa Rica, courtesy of Dan Janzen.

This site has been created by Bill Oehlke.
Comments, suggestions and/or additional information are welcomed by Bill.

TAXONOMY:

Family: Sphingidae, Latreille, 1802
Subfamily: Macroglossinae, Harris, 1839
Tribe: Dilophonotini, Burmeister, 1878
Genus: Madoryx Boisduval, 1875 ...........
Species: bubastus bubastus Cramer, 1777

DISTRIBUTION:

Madoryx bubastus bubastus (wingspan: 92-120mm, males considerably smaller than females) flies in Central and South America;
French Guiana;
Guyana: Berbice; and
Venezuela: Aroa;
Trinidad;
Ecuador;
Bolivia: Santa Cruz (750m);
Brazil: southern Maranhao;
Paraguay: Cordillera; Guaira; and
Argentina: Misiones (100m). Dan Janzen confirms it from Costa Rica, and
Jose Monzon confirms it from Guatemala

It flies as subspecies M. b. butleri in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, and then probably as the nominate subspecies throughout the rest of Central America and into South America, probably as far south as Paraguay: Central: San Lorenzo (PS).

I see no reason why it would not be found in Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia and Peru.

Madoryx bubastus female, Yacutinga Private Reserve, Misiones, Argentina,
September 11, 2010, courtesy of Ezequiel Osvaldo Nunez Bustos.

The uppersides of the body and wings are more-or-less olive-brown. The forewing apex is truncate. The upper silver discal spot on the forewing is small, and can be rounded or ovate. The lower silver spot is irregularly triangular, with its upper inner edge directed towards the costa.

A very acute angle is formed by two pales lines near the end of Rs4, the outer line ending at the tip of CuA1, and the inner line ending near the midpoint of the inner margin. The area bounded by these lines is dark. A broadly preapical, pale line, emanating from the costa, meets the pm line at an internal angle of slightly less than ninety degrees.

There are two dark brown spots, the smaller capping the larger, along the inner margin halfway between the pm line and the anal angle.

Madoryx bubastus butleri, Peten, Guatemala, courtesy of Jose Monzon.

FLIGHT TIMES:

Moths are probably on the wing in just about every month.

ECLOSION:

Adults eclose, usually within three weeks, from pupae formed in flimsy cocoons spun amongst leaf litter.

SCENTING AND MATING:

Females call in the males with a pheromone released from a gland at the tip of the abdomen.

Madoryx bubastus bubastus female, Costa Rica, courtesy of Dan Janzen.

EGGS, LARVAE, PUPAE:

Larvae feed on Guettarda macrosperma and spin a very flimsy cocoon amongst leaf litter.

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