Acherontia styx (Westwood, 1847) - Lesser Death's Head Hawkmoth

Taxonomic Information

List of Acherontia Laspeyres, 1809 known from India.
Acherontia lachesis (Fabricius, 1798). Throughout India. 
Acherontia styx (Westwood, 1847). India: Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andaman Is.

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Andhra Pradesh211
Arunachal Pradesh1
Assam11
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
Daman & Diu
Delhi3
Goa
Gujarat21
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir
Jharkhand
Karnataka132
Kerala1
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh111
Maharashtra11121
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
Paschimbanga31
Pondicherry
Punjab
Rajasthan1
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu121
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand1
West Bengal
Total22451672631

Acherontia styx (Westwood, 1847) – Lesser Death's Head HawkmothAnisomeles indica, Tectona grandis, Clerodendrum indicum, Clerodendrum phlomidis, Vitex negundo, Vitex megapotamica (Lamiaceae), Lablab purpureus, Vigna unguiculata (Fabaceae), Jasminum arborescens, Ligustrum lucidum (Oleaceae), Millingtonia hortensis, Spathodea campanulata, Stereospermum tetragonum, Tecoma stans (Bignoniaceae), Solanum melongena (Solanaceae), Citharexylum spinosum (Verbenaceae), Syzygium cumini (Myrtaceae), Sesamum indicum (Pedaliaceae) (Robinson et al. 2010).

  1. Kitching, I. Sphingidae Taxonomic Inventory. Website accessed July 2015
  2. Pittaway, A.R. & I.J. Kitching. Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic (including Siberia, the Russian Far East, Mongolia, China, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula and Japan.). Website accessed July 2015.
  3. Iyer, G. & I.J. Kitching. 2019. A preliminary study of the hawkmoth diversity (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) of Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(5): 13592–13604. Image 23.   DOI.10.11609/jott.4694.11.5.13592-13604.

Page citation

Anonymous 2024. Acherontia styx (Westwood, 1847) – Lesser Death's Head Hawkmoth. In Sondhi, S., Y. Sondhi, R.P. Singh, P. Roy and K. Kunte (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 3.80. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.mothsofindia.org/acherontia-styx, accessed 2024/10/13.