The Lesser Madder Hawkmoth (Rethera brandti) 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 found from south-eastern Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 and north-eastern Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 to southern Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

 along the Zagros Mountains and then into western Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. It is also present in the Alborz and Kopet Dag Mountains of northern Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. The habitat of ssp. brandti consists of sparsely vegetated slopes up to 2,000 meters, while the habitat of ssp. euteles consists of hilly steppe and desert-edge vegetation between 1,500 and 2,500 meters altitude.

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 40-46 mm. Adults of ssp. brandti are on from April mid May in one generation per year. Adults of ssp. euteles are on wing from late March to mid May depending on the altitude in one or two generations per year.

The larvae probably feed on Galium

Galium

Galium is a large genus of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the family Rubiaceae, with 617 known species occurring in the temperate zones of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Most species are known as bedstraw. G...

species.

Subspecies

• Rethera brandti brandti (Alborz and Kopet Dag Mountains of northern Iran)
• Rethera brandti euteles Jordan, 1937 (south-eastern Turkey and north-eastern Iraq to southern Iran along the Zagros Mountains and then into western Pakistan)