''Macroglossum aesalon'' 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 The Sphingidae are a family of moths (Lepidoptera) called sphinx moths, also colloquially known as hawk moths, with many of their caterpillars known as “hornworms”; it includes about 1,450 species. It is best represented in the tropics, bu ...

first described by

Paul Mabille Paul Mabille (1835 – 6 April 1923) was a French naturalist mainly interested in Lepidoptera and botany. Mabille was born in 1835 in Tours, France. He was a member and President (1876–1877) of the Société entomologique de France and a memb ...

in 1879. It is known from

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

and the

Comoro Islands The Comoro Islands or Comoros ( Shikomori ''Komori''; ar, جزر القمر , ''Juzur al-qamar''; french: Les Comores) form an archipelago of volcanic islands situated off the southeastern coast of Africa, to the east of Mozambique and northw ...

. The abdomen upperside has four orange lateral patches, the first and fourth generally small. There is also a black mesial spot at the base of the anal brush. The palpus is white, shaded with brown scales and the thorax underside is brown, clayish in the middle. The abdomen underside is either tawny with a series of more or less confluent brown patches at each side, nearly all tawny or brown with three series of tawny patches. The forewing upperside has two oblique antemedian lines, the space between more or less filled up with black scaling. The hindwing upperside has a brownish black base. The median band is broad and yellowish-orange. The distal part of the wing is blackish brown, becoming purple-brown on the disc. The hindwing underside is yellow at the extreme base and inner margin. There are three discal lines present.

Subspecies

*''Macroglossum aesalon aesalon'' *''Macroglossum aesalon sainsoni'' Turlin, 1996 (Comoro Islands)

References

* Pinhey, E. (1962). ''Hawk Moths of Central and Southern Africa''. Longmans Southern Africa, Cape Town. Macroglossum Moths described in 1879 Moths of Madagascar Moths of the Comoros Moths of Mauritius Moths of Réunion {{Macroglossum-stub