The Small Verdant Hawk (Basiothia medea) is a moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 of the Sphingidae

Sphingidae

Sphingidae is a family of moths , commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths and hornworms, that includes about 1,200 species . It is best represented in the tropics but there are species in every region . They are moderate to large in size and are distinguished among moths for their rapid,...

 family. It is common in open habitats throughout the Ethiopian Region, including Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

. It is however probably absent from the equatorial forest belt, except as a vagrant. The species is an active migrant

Lepidoptera migration

Lepidoptera migration is a biological phenomenon whereby populations of butterflies or moths migrate over long distances to areas where they cannot settle for long periods of time...

.

The length of the forewings is 22-25 mm and the wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 is 49-63 mm. The body is grass green. The forewings are grass green with two or three faint darker green transverse lines. The hindwings are dull orange with a narrow brown margin.

The larvae feed on Spermacoce natalensis, Dioda, Spermacoce

Spermacoce

Spermacoce is a genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family. It comprises about 275 species found throughout the tropics and subtropics...

, Pentas

Pentas

Pentas is a genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants. Pentas lanceolata is a particularly popular species. The plants have dark green, lance-shaped, somewhat furry and deeply veined leaves providing a backdrop for prolific clusters of never-ending, five-petaled flowers. These may be red,...

and Pentasinia species.