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Sticker of Green pergesa hawkmoth
Bug card No. 2081 of 4,939

Green pergesa hawkmoth

Pergesa acteus
Eats: PlantsMothsRainforests and jungles6 legs

The green pergesa hawkmoth is a big, fast moth from tropical Asia. Its body and wings are purplish grey, with a green stripe down its back and a green band across each front wing. Its caterpillar wears fake eyes to scare away enemies.

Lives in
Tropical Asia, from India and Sri Lanka to China, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines
Wingspan
6.4 to 8 cm (2.5 to 3.1 in)
Top speed
about 45 km/h (28 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of plants like taro, elephant ear, begonia and grape vines.
For real!Photo of Green pergesa hawkmoth
Picture by LC Shih. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Green pergesa hawkmoth wings about 8 cm tip to tip (3.1 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as 2.5 toy building brickscould fly across a whole football pitch in 8.4 seconds

How big is Green pergesa hawkmoth compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its green caterpillar has a big eye spot near the front, white with a blue and green middle.

2

Further down its body, the caterpillar has a row of smaller bluish eye spots with yellow centres.

3

Like other hawkmoth caterpillars, it has a little horn at its back end.

4

It is the only species in its group, called Pergesa.

you asked

Most asked questions about Green pergesa hawkmoth

?What does the green pergesa hawkmoth caterpillar eat?

Plants like taro, elephant ear, begonia and grape vines.

?How big is the green pergesa hawkmoth?

It is a big moth, with wings 64 to 80 millimetres across.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Pergesa acteus
Named by
Cramer, 1779
Group
Moths
Family
Sphingidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Sphingidae
Lives on
Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Pergesa (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by LC Shih. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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More from the same group: Moths

Also at home here: Rainforests and jungles

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