Moth

Oleander hawkmoth

Daphnis nerii

Two green hawkmoth caterpillars with blue eye-spots feeding on narrow leaves — Caterpillars of the oleander hawkmoth.
Image: Devendra Bhardwaj · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Nemi Nagar Extension, Jaipur, Rajasthan · Resized

An olive-green and pink oleander hawkmoth resting with its wings spread on a brown wooden surface — The adult moth. This photograph is smaller than the others.
Image: Devendra Bhardwaj · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Nemi Nagar Extension, Jaipur, Rajasthan · Resized

Scientific name: Daphnis nerii
Family: Sphingidae, order Lepidoptera
Group: Moth

A night flyer that hovers at flowers like a tiny hummingbird.

Spot it Large, olive-green moth patterned with pink and white.
Home Gardens and scrub.
Food web Caterpillars eat oleander; adults sip nectar at dusk.
Why it matters A night pollinator that carries pollen between flowers when day pollinators are asleep.

Read more: Daphnis nerii on Wikipedia

Sources and credits

Records and field notes

JaipurDevendra Bhardwaj recorded an oleander hawkmoth at his home in Nemi Nagar Extension, Jaipur. He notes that the Wildlife Institute of India's Common Moths list reports it from Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Karnataka, but that it is reported at his home in Jaipur.^[20]
JaipurHe names its main host plant as oleander (Nerium oleander): the flowers and young leaves.^[20]
JaipurHe photographed its caterpillars at the same address in October 2023. His account holds three verified records of the moth, all at his home.^[20]

Sources

Devendra Bhardwaj. iNaturalist observations and notes, with place and date (inaturalist.org/people/devendrabhardwaj) (field record). The observer's own dated records and notes, with places. Statements in his notes are his own and were not independently checked by KJVF.
GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF species data (family, order, Hindi names, IUCN category) (database). Open biodiversity data. Used for classification, Hindi common names and the IUCN category where one is given.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (opening lines of each species article, CC BY-SA 4.0). The link on each entry goes to the article (reference). Not peer reviewed. Only the opening description is used, and statements about origin or medicinal use are left out.
Short introductions and key points written with AI help (Google Gemini and Claude) and checked against GBIF where possible (reference). AI-assisted text for general readers. Please check important details before relying on them.

The tag before each record shows the place it was checked for.

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