''Macropoliana natalensis'' 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 ...

. It is known from forests and moist woodland from

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

and westwards to

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

. The length of the forewings is 55–70 mm for males and 65–75 mm for females and 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 107–126 mm. The forewings are very pale grey with wavy blackish transverse bands and a whitish stigma. There are two short longitudinal blackish streaks in the centre of the wing. The head is pale grey and the thorax is pale grey surrounded dorsally by black lines edged internally with yellow. The abdomen is pale grey, mottled and faintly spotted with darker grey. The hindwings are dark greyish brown, with a large pale grey patch near the tornus. Females are larger, have broader forewings and are usually darker and more heavily marked. The larvae feed on '' Spathodea nilotica'', ''

Spathodea campanulata ''Spathodea'' is a genus in the plant family Bignoniaceae. The single species it contains, ''Spathodea campanulata'', is commonly known as the African tulip tree. The tree grows between tall and is native to tropical dry forests of Africa. It ha ...

'', ''

Markhamia lutea ''Markhamia lutea'', the Nile tulip, Nile trumpet or siala tree is a tree species of the family Bignoniaceae, native to eastern Africa and cultivated for its large bright yellow flowers. It is related to the African tulip tree. Native to Africa, ...

'' and ''

Brachystegia ''Brachystegia'' is a genus of tree of the subfamily Detarioideae that is native to tropical Africa. Trees of the genus are commonly known as miombo, and are dominant in the miombo woodlands of central and southern tropical Africa. The Zambezian ...

'' species. The larvae are generally pale green, but turn olive-purple immediately before pupation. Pupation takes place under ground in a dark brown pupa.

References

Macropoliana Moths described in 1875 Moths of Africa {{Sphinginae-stub