''Mimas christophi'', the alder hawkmoth, is a species of

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 ...

Distribution

It is known from the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

, north-eastern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and northern and central

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Description

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 59–77 mm. It is similar to ''

Mimas tiliae ''Mimas tiliae'', the lime hawk-moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region and the Near East, and has also been identified in Canada's east and western provinces and in northern Spain (Europe). The speci ...

'' but smaller and darker and showing a less extensive variation in forewing colour and pattern. Mimas christophi MHNT CUT 2010 0 183 Ussuri, Gornotajosnoje, Russia female dorsal.jpg, Female Mimas christophi MHNT CUT 2010 0 183 Ussuri, Gornotajosnoje, Russia female ventral.jpg, Female underside

Biology

Adults are on wing from late May to late August in Korea. The larvae have been recorded feeding on '' Alnus hirsute'', ''

Tilia ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain a ...

'', '' Acer'', ''

Ulmus Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of Nor ...

'', ''

Salix Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

'' and ''

Betula A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

'' in Primorskiy Kray in Russia and ''

Alnus japonica ''Alnus japonica'', known as Japanese alder, is a species of Alnus Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a larg ...

'', ''

Quercus dentata ''Quercus dentata'', also called Japanese emperor oak or daimyo oak ( ja, 柏, ''kashiwa''; ; ko, 떡갈나무, ''tteokgalnamu'') is a species of oak native to East Asia (Japan, Korea and China). The name of the tree is often translated as "swee ...

'', ''Ulmus davidiana'' var. ''japonica'' and ''

Tilia amurensis ''Tilia amurensis'', the Amur lime or Amur linden, is a species of ''Tilia'' native to eastern Asia. It differs from the better-known ''Tilia cordata'' in having somewhat smaller leaves, bracts and cymes. It is an important timber tree in Russia, ...

'' in Korea.

References

Smerinthini Moths described in 1887 Moths of Japan {{Smerinthini-stub