Theretra clotho 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 Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

, 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...

 (including the Andaman Islands), 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...

 and Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

, east through 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...

 to 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...

, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, and then south-east through South East Asia as far as the Lesser Sunda Islands

Lesser Sunda Islands

The Lesser Sunda Islands or Nusa Tenggara are a group of islands in the southern Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up the Sunda Islands...

 and Timor

Timor

Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...

 in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. An uncommon 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...

 may be found up to northern China (this range includes Theretra celata

Theretra celata

Theretra celata is a moth of the Sphingidae family. It is known from the Moluccas east to Vanuatu and south to Australia. It is often treated as a subspecies of Theretra clotho....

, which is sometimes treated as a valid species). The habitat consists of open forests, forest edges, orchards, plantations, wooded scrubs, suburban gardens and city parks.
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 70-100 mm. The head and thorax are greenish-brown, with a white lateral stripe running from the palpus to the rear of the thorax. The abdomen is also greenish-brown, with a black lateral patch near the thorax. The forewings are greyish-brown with a sharp brown oblique band running from the inner margin to the apex and a fine black discal spot. The hindwings are black basally and brown distally, with a buff patch at the anal angle. The antennae and legs are white.

In Hong Kong, adults are on wing in multiple generations per year, with records from April to late October (peaks in mid April, late May, mid August and mid October). In Korea, adults are on wing in August. In general though, adults are on wing from April or May to October throughout the southern range.

Larvae 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...

, Hibiscus

Hibiscus

Hibiscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is quite large, containing several hundred species that are native to warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world...

, Parthenocissus

Parthenocissus

Parthenocissus , creepers, is a genus of climbing plants from the grape family, Vitaceae. It contains about 12 species, from Asia and North America. Several are grown for ornamental use....

, 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...

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...

in Guangdong and Hong Kong. Other hosts include Cissus

Cissus

Cissus is a genus of approximately 350 species of woody vines in the grape family . They have a cosmopolitan distribution, though the majority are to be found in the tropics. In Tamil they are known as pirandai .-Medicinal:...

species, as well as Ampelopsis brevipedunculata

Ampelopsis brevipedunculata

Ampelopsis brevipedunculata , the porcelain berry, is an ornamental plant, native to temperate areas of Asia...

in Japan and on Cissus hastata in Singapore. Elsewhere, other major hostplant families include Actinidiaceae

Actinidiaceae

Actinidiaceae, or the Chinese Gooseberry family, is a small family of plants. It includes three genera and about 360 species. It is a member of the order Ericales.-Distribution:...

, Araceae

Araceae

Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe or leaf-like bract. Also known as the Arum family, members are often colloquially...

, Begoniaceae

Begoniaceae

Begoniaceae is a family of flowering plants with about 1400 species occurring in the subtropics and tropics of both the New World and Old World. All but one of the species are in the genus Begonia. The only other genus in the family, Hillebrandia, is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and has a single...

 and Dilleniaceae

Dilleniaceae

Dilleniaceae is the botanical name for a family of flowering plants. Such a family has been universally recognized by taxonomists. It is known to gardeners for the genus Hibbertia, which contains many commercially valuable garden species....

.

Subspecies

• Theretra clotho clotho
• Theretra clotho vincenti Vaglia & Liyous, 2010 (Philippines)
• Theretra clotho celata (Butler, 1877) (Moluccas east to Vanuatu and south to Australia)