''Akbesia'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

genus in the family Sphingidae erected by

Walter Rothschild Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild, (8 February 1868 – 27 August 1937) was a British banker, politician, zoologist and soldier, who was a member of the Rothschild family. As a Zionist leader, he was present ...

and Karl Jordan in 1903. Its only species, ''Akbesia davidi'', the pistacia hawkmoth, was first described by

Charles Oberthür Charles Oberthür (14 September 1845 – 1 June 1924) was a French amateur entomologist specializing in lepidoptera. Biography Charles Oberthür was born in Rennes, the son of the printer François-Charles Oberthür and Marie Hamelin, and brot ...

in 1884. It is known from southern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, northern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, northern

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, western

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, south-eastern Turkey, north-eastern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, south-eastern Georgia, northern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, eastern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and Iranian

Beluchistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

. It may also occur across

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran, the Zagros Mountains of western and southern Iran, and northern Afghanistan. It often occurs in large numbers at certain sites in rocky, hilly areas supporting scattered trees and shrubs of ''

Quercus An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably '' ...

'', '' Olea'', ''

Ceratonia ''Ceratonia'' is small genus of flowering plant, flowering trees in the pea family, Fabaceae, Endemism, endemic to the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. Its best known member, the Ceratonia siliqua, carob tree, is cultivated for its pod ...

'' and '' Pistacia''. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 60–70 mm. Although the adults do not feed, they will drink water if offered. There are two generations per year in Iran with adults on wing in April and from late July to August. In northern Iraq, adults are on from May to June and in August. The larvae have been recorded feeding on ''

Pistacia atlantica ''Pistacia atlantica'' is a species of pistachio tree known by the English common name Mt. Atlas mastic tree, Atlas pistachio, Atlantic pistacio, Atlantic terebinth, Cyprus turpentine tree, and Persian turpentine tree. ''P. atlantica'' has thre ...

'' and

terebinth ''Pistacia terebinthus'' also called the terebinth and the turpentine tree, is a deciduous tree species of the genus ''Pistacia'', native to the Mediterranean region from the western regions of Morocco and Portugal to Greece and western and s ...

(''Pistacia terebinthus''). Larvae have also been reared on ''

Cotinus coggygria ''Cotinus coggygria'', syn. ''Rhus cotinus'', the European smoketree, Eurasian smoketree, smoke tree, smoke bush, Venetian sumach, or dyer's sumach, is a Eurasian species of flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. Description It is a multi ...

'' and '' Rhus coriaria''.

Etymology

The genus is named after the town of Akbez (near Hassa) in Turkey.

Subspecies

*''Akbesia davidi davidi'' *''Akbesia davidi gandhara'' de Freina & Geck, 2003 (Afghanistan)

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q1592039, from2=Q2478407 Ambulycini Monotypic moth genera Moths of Asia Taxa named by Walter Rothschild Taxa named by Karl Jordan