Acherontia lachesis

Acherontia lachesis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Genus:	Acherontia
Species:	A. lachesis
Binomial name
Acherontia lachesis (Fabricius, 1798)
Synonyms
Sphinx lachesis Fabricius, 1798 Spectrum charon Billberg, 1820 Acherontia sojejimae Matsumura, 1908 Acherontia satanas Boisduval, 1836 Acherontia morta Hübner, 1819 Acherontia lethe Westwood, 1847 Acherontia circe Moore, 1858 Manduca lachesis atra Huwe, 1895 Acherontia lachesis submarginalis Dupont, 1941 Acherontia lachesis radiata Niepelt, 1931 Acherontia lachesis pallida Dupont, 1941 Acherontia lachesis fuscapex Bryk, 1944

Acherontia lachesis, the greater death's head hawkmoth or bee robber, is a large (up to 13 cm wingspan)^[1] sphingid moth found in India, Sri Lanka and much of the East Asian region. It is one of the three species of death's-head hawkmoth genus, Acherontia. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1798. It is nocturnal and very fond of honey; they can mimic the scent of honey bees so that they can enter a hive unharmed to get honey. Their tongue, which is stout and very strong, enables them to pierce the wax cells and suck the honey out. This species occurs throughout almost the entire Oriental region, from India, Pakistan and Nepal to the Philippines, and from southern Japan and the southern Russian Far East to Indonesia, where it attacks colonies of several different honey bee species. It has recently become established on the Hawaiian Islands.^[2]