Rhagastis castor 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 known from Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

, north-eastern India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, southern China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...

, Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

 and Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

.

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 53-84 mm. It is similar to Rhagastis acuta

Rhagastis acuta

Rhagastis acuta is a moth of the Sphingidae family. It is known from south-east Asia, including India, Thailand and Indonesia.It is similar to Rhagastis velata and Rhagastis hayesi. The upperside of the abdomen has a pair of vestigial or well-developed lateral golden stripes. The forewing upperside...

and Rhagastis velata

Rhagastis velata

Rhagastis velata is a moth of the Sphingidae family. It is known from Nepal, north-eastern India, Thailand, central and southern China and Taiwan....

but larger, the forewings and hindwings are more elongate. It is distinguishable by the combination of the dark connection between the marginal band and the basal area on the forewing underside and the well developed abdominal golden stripes. The forewing underside marginal area is joined to the basal area by a streak. The third postmedian line is marked by a series of large and conspicuous black vein dots. The fore- and hindwing median area has a conspicuous red or salmon pink flush.

Larvae of ssp. aurifera have been recorded feeding on Amorphophallus

Amorphophallus

Amorphophallus is a large genus of some 170 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the Arum family...

and Vitis

Vitis

Vitis is a genus of about 60 species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, both for direct consumption of the fruit and for fermentation to produce...

species in India. The larvae of ssp. formosana feed on Saurauia

Saurauia

Saurauia Willd. is a genus of plant in the Actinidiaceae family. It comprises about 250 species distributed in the tropics and subtropics of Asia, and South and Central America. Genetic evidence and the cell biology of the group support monophyly of the genus...

species.

Subspecies

• Rhagastis castor castor (Sumatra and Java)
• Rhagastis castor aurifera (Butler, 1875) (Nepal, north-eastern India, Thailand, southern China and Vietnam)
• Rhagastis castor formosana Clark, 1925 (Taiwan)
• Rhagastis castor jordani Oberthür, 1904 (southern China)