Xanthopan morganii
| Xanthopan morganii | ||||||||||||
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Preparation of Xanthopan morganii with unrolled proboscis |
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| Xanthopan morganii | ||||||||||||
| ( Walker , 1856) |
Xanthopan morganii is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of moth (Sphingidae).
features
butterfly
The moths reach a fore wing length of 53 to 65 millimeters. The females of the large species in particular have long and broad wings. The forewings and the body are spotted yellowish-brown to greenish. The abdomen has yellow spots on the sides and, like Coelonia fulvinotata , the animals have yellow spots on the hind wings as well. The proboscis of the species is extremely long at over 22 centimeters, even for enthusiasts.
Occurrence and way of life
The species is common in the warm coastal areas of Africa and is most common in Mozambique , Malawi, and Zimbabwe . However, it also occurs in the tropical and subtropical areas further inside the continent. A subspecies is also common in Madagascar , from where it was described as the subspecies Xanthopan morgani praedicta . Both morphological differences and molecular data show that the Malagasy subspecies is genetically far removed from that of mainland Africa.
Charles Darwin recognized in 1862 that there must be a moth that can get to the nectar of the orchid Angraecum sesquipedale , which collects as a nectar column in the up to 30 centimeter long flower spurs. At that time, however, no moth with such a long proboscis was known. Even Alfred Russel Wallace told Darwin's view, describing 1867 as the orchid could develop together with the Butterfly: For the plant pollination with species-specific pollen a food source is gradually increasingly backed up while gradually for the animal arises it with no competitors has to share more (since apparently no other butterfly kept pace with the evolution of the extremely elongated trunk).
40 years later, after Darwin's death, the butterfly was described by Walter Rothschild and Karl Jordan on the basis of one male and one female each found in Madagascar and, in recognition of Darwin's prediction, Xanthopan morganii praedicta ( Latin praedictus " the predicted ") named.
The caterpillars of Xanthopan morganii feed on uvaria and netzannone ( Annona reticulata ).
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ G. Kritsky: Darwin's Madagascan hawk moth prediction. American Entomologist 2001, 37: pp. 206–210, online: PDF ( Memento from November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
literature
- Ian J. Kitching, Jean-Marie Cadiou: Hawkmoths of the World. An Annotated and Illustrated Revisionary Checklist (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). Cornell University Press, New York 2000, ISBN 0-801-43734-2 .
- Elliot Pinhey : Hawk Moths of Central and Southern Africa , Longmans Southern Afrika, Cape Town 1962.
- Christoph Netz, Susanne S. Renner: Long-spurred Angraecum orchids and long-tongued sphingid moths on Madagascar: A time-frame for Darwin's predicted Xanthopan / Angraecum coevolution . Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 122, 2017, doi : 10.1093 / biolinnean / blx086