''Erebus caprimulgus'' 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
Erebidae. It is found from the Oriental Region of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Sri Lanka,
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
to
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...
,
Sumatra and
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...
. It also occurs in Taiwan.
[
]
Description
The wingspan is about 90–104 mm. The species shows sexual dimorphism. Male with vein 3 running to the functional apex of hindwing. The costal fold is obsolete, and the granular patch is small. Male with veins 4 to 8 of hindwings moderately developed in the aborted costal area. Similar to '' Erebus hieroglyphica'', differs from having large whorl of forewing and absence of yellow sub-apical bar. Abdomen with tufts of orange hair in anal segment round claspers.
Female is somewhat similar to male, but with indistinct antemedial line to forewing and line from the whorl to inner margin. Hindwings with traces of sinuous medial line. In some morphs, there is a broad sinuous postmedial line on both wings which angled near costa of for wing. The outer area suffused with grey or sometimes mostly white on hindwing. Another morph is brownish, where the wings suffused black as far as postmedial line. Ventral side with irregular postmedial series of white posts to both wings.
Subspecies
*''Erebus caprimulgus caprimulgus''
*''Erebus caprimulgus orion'' (Hampson, 1913) (Borneo)
References
Erebus (moth)
Moths of Asia
Moths described in 1781
Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius
{{Erebinae-stub