Acontia achatina ( Weymer, 1896 )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 388-389

Acontia achatina ( Weymer, 1896) ( Fig. 34 )

COMMON NAME (S): Blossom Moth or simply, Blossom. SYNONYM(S): None.

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Mid Luangwa valley, in Eastern Province. LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): Host plants include a yet to be identified Malvaceae species ( Azanza sp. ) ( Pinhey 1975) and the African Moths (2019) webpage specifically reports two Malvaceae species, the “African chewing gum”

or “Matobo in Tonga, one of the Zambian Languages”, Thespesia garckeana F.Hoffm. and a related

“chewing gum species”, Gossypioides kirkii (Mast.) Skovsted and another Malvaceae species yet to be identified, Thespesia sp. as larval foodplants of this taxon.

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Hacker 2022.

Figures

FIGURES 32–34. Adult moths. 32a, Agrius convolvuli (Linnaeus, 1758)—Convolvulus Hawk (Sphingidae: Sphinginae) caught by black light trap in Lusaka, 31 March 2020, dorsal view; 32b, ditto, ventral view. 33a, Basiothia medea (Fabricius, 1781)—Small Verdant Hawk (Sphingidae: Macroglossinae) collected at a black light trap in Lusaka, 10 January 2011, dorsal view; 33b, ditto ventral view. 34a, Daphnis nerii (Linnaeus, 1758)—Oleander Hawk (Sphingidae: Macroglossinae) caught by a black light trap in Lusaka, 25 April 2011, dorsal view; 34b, ditto ventral view. Scale bar 2 cm. © Kind permission of the University of Zambia.