Taxonomic Information
Rhagastis Rothschild & Jordan, 1903 species known from India.
Rhagastis acuta (Walker, 1856). India: Karnataka, Kerala.
Rhagastis albomarginatus (Rothschild, 1894). India: Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh; Nepal.
Rhagastis castanea (Moore, 1872). India: Kerala, Maharashtra, Goa.
Rhagastis castor (Walker, 1856). India: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Kerala (Sondhi et al., 2017), Tamil Nadu.
Rhagastis confusa Rothschild & Jordan, 1903. India: Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Meghalaya; Nepal.
Rhagastis gloriosa (Butler, 1875). India: West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh ;Nepal.
Rhagastis lunata (Rothschild, 1900). India: Assam, Himalaya (Sanyal et al., 2018).
Rhagastis olivacea (Moore, 1872). India: Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim; Nepal.
Rhagastis velata (Walker, 1866). India: Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh; Nepal.
Note: Transferred to Rhagastis castanea from Theretra castanea by Melichar et al. 2018. Kitching (2020) remarks on this transfer stating "further study need to clarify its taxonomic position". For now, retained in Rhagastis.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
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This species is similar to Theretra pallicosta.
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Assam | |||||||||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | |||||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | |||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | |||||||||||||
| Kerala | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Paschimbanga | |||||||||||||
| Pondicherry | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
| West Bengal | |||||||||||||
| Total | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
- Bell, T.R.D & F. B. Scott. 1937. The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma. Moths, Vol. 5. Sphingidae 537p - 1 folding map - 15 pl. 459-461,#169
- Gurule, S & S. M. Nikam. 2013. The moths (Lepidoptera: Heterocera) of northern Maharashtra: a preliminary checklist. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(12): 4693–4713; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2555.4693-713. # 70
- Kitching, I.J. 2020. Sphingidae Taxonomic Inventory, http://sphingidae.myspecies.info/, accessed on 29 March 2020)
- Melichar, T., J. Haxaire, M. Rezác & H. B. Manjunatha. 2018. A field guide to Hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) of the state of Karnataka, India. Published by Ekoloicke centrum Orlov, o.p.s, Orlov 79, 26101 Pribram, Czech Republic. Pg. 100.
Page citation
Anonymous 2025. Rhagastis castanea (Moore, 1872) – Chestnut Hunter Hawkmoth. In Sondhi, S., R.P. Singh, G. Iyer, J. D'silva and K. Kunte (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.1. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.mothsofindia.org/index.php/rhagastis-castanea, accessed 2025/08/18.