''Hippotion gracilis'' is a

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 ...

of the family Sphingidae. It is known from most of sub-

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. 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 64.6–71.1 mm for males and 66.9–71.1 mm for females. It is very similar to '' Hippotion eson'', but in general smaller, paler and with a less contrasting forewing upperside pattern. The forewing upperside is also very similar to ''Hippotion eson'', but the first and second postmedian lines are thinner and paler and not fused. On average, the discal spot is smaller.

References

Hippotion Lepidoptera of Cameroon Lepidoptera of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lepidoptera of Malawi Moths of Réunion Moths of Sub-Saharan Africa Moths described in 1875 {{Macroglossini-stub