Rethera komarovi
Encyclopedia
Rethera komarovi is a species of moth
of the Sphingidae
family. It is found in south-western Europe
, Asia Minor
, Afghanistan
, Turkestan
, Iran
and Iraq
.
The wingspan
is 55-65 mm for ssp. komarovi and 65-81 mm for ssp. manifica. Adults are on wing from mid April to mid June.
Larvae have been recorded on Rubia
and Galium
species.
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 in south-western Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Turkestan
Turkestan
Turkestan, spelled also as Turkistan, literally means "Land of the Turks".The term Turkestan is of Persian origin and has never been in use to denote a single nation. It was first used by Persian geographers to describe the place of Turkish peoples...
, 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...
and 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....
.
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 55-65 mm for ssp. komarovi and 65-81 mm for ssp. manifica. Adults are on wing from mid April to mid June.
Larvae have been recorded on Rubia
Rubiá
aRubiá is a municipality in the Spanish province of Ourense. It has a population of 1734 and an area of 101 km²....
and 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 komarovi komarovi (mountains of eastern Albania, southern Yugoslavia, northern Greece, southern Bulgaria (as an isolated population), western, central, eastern and southern Turkey, Transcaucasia, Lebanon, northern Jordan, northern Iraq, Armenia, northern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, southern Uzbekistan (Western Gissar Mountains), southern and eastern Kazakhstan to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan)
- Rethera komarovi boguta (Afghanistan)
- Rethera komarovi manifica (central and southern Iran)
- Rethera komarovi stipularis (Afghanistan)