Suriname: Manduca

Manduca florestan, Camp Caiman, near Kaw, French Guiana,
April 29, 2011, courtesy of Andres Urbas.

Manduca Abdomen: five-six prominent orangey-yellow lateral marks; lacking (except for sexta paphus) two rows of dorsal small white dots. Lacking presence of white scaling on forewings. Manduca sexta paphus m: 110mm; f: 117mm Fw white, submarginal band less prominent than in sexta, but hw bands are purer white. G.C. variable, may be as pale as sexta caestri. Lower 3/4 of inner pml very straight. Manduca duquefi m: 102mm Small grey cell mark in almost solid, very dark upper 2/3 median area. Four angular, subparallel pm lines with much space (lighter brown) between lines 3 and 4. No white patches or scaling on wings. Manduca hannibal m: 99-115mm; f: 106mm G. c. different shades of brown, generous suffusions of tiny charcoal grey scales, creating somewhat grainy appearance. Lighter colouration (creamy buff) without suffusion along i. m., anal angle, o. m.. Am and pm lines less convergent below cell than in other species. Very weak subterminal line Manduca diffissa tropicalis : m: 106mm; f: 107mm Grey brown, often darker in cell region. Terminal line tends to be more pronounced, with small rectangular like projections, than in other species in this group. Manduca lucetius m: 114mm; f: 136mm Slaty black downy patches very pronounced, forming, together with a patch in the discal cell, a large semicircle filled with black scaling, this contrasting strongly with the paler, russet basal and distal areas; discal and postdiscal lines less curved than in Manduca diffissa petuniae near vein M3, but more so than in Manduca sexta; white dots of the fringe sometimes encroaching on the wing, being slightly enlarged basad, though they may be very small or absent.

Manduca Three to four pairs of lateral, yellow abdominal patches. Very thin, black, apical, trapezoidal outline often broken along lower edge. Prominent, oblique, black bar from near costa midpoint to cell. M. prestoni m: 112mm; f: 125mm M. lefeburii:Very similar to Manduca lefeburii, but the forewing upperside transverse dark band that runs through the discal spot is narrower, less diffuse, and does not reach the outer margin. It ends about 2/3 the distance to the outer margin, and is represented by dark submarginal and marginal marks on veins M3 and CuA1. The more distal dark costal mark is more conspicuous than in Manduca lefeburii. M. prestoni: bar from costa tangent to lower edge of cell, then subparallel to inner margin. M. lefeburii: bar from costa through cell is almost linnear, not subparallel to inner margin. Manduca lefeburii m: 89-100mm; f: 118mm Similar to Manduca andicola. Conspicuous, diffuse, dark band from midpoint costa to outer margin near vein CuA1, housing white discal spot. Mostly pale grey with pale brown triangular patch from cell spot to costa. Aml weak, outer pm line weak. No narrow black mesial line on abdomen upperside.

Manduca huascara, Brownsberg National Park, Brokopondo District, Suriname,
July 8, 2011, courtesy of Johan van't Bosch.

Manduca No lateral abdominal yellow patches, just whitish ones. Thin, black outline of apical, irregular trapezoid is complete and distinct. Two prominent, short black bars, subparallel to inner margin, below and outside cell spot. M. huascara m: 118-119mm; f: 127-130mm Thorax: light grey; slightly darker grey-mixed with yellow tegulae. Darker grey band across head and thorax juncture. Basal & postmedian areas much lighter than median area, especially dark in upper half. Small, almost obscure cell spot. Manduca florestan m: 100-115mm; f: 110-130mm Fw gray to yellowish gray to brown with greenish tint in fresh specimens. Two black dashes running from below cell toward outer margin. Prominent reddish brown patch outside cell, above dashes. Left fw pm lines: S-shaped, prominent for upper 3/4. Body side of black apical, trapezoid, oblique. Manduca vestalis m: 110mm; f: 130mm Thorax light grey; tegulae slightly darker with black outer edge. One prominent, thin, distinct, S-shaped, pml on left fw. Other "pmlines" broadly diffuse. Ground colour light grey, often with yellowish cast.

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