This is a presentation about Oleander Hawk Moth prepared by me during my 7th semester in IAAS, Paklihawa Campus. I loved to rear insects and sometimes i prepare presentation about the reared insects.

1. A presentation on rearing of
Oleander Hawk Moth
Prepared by:
Suraj Poudel
BSc. Agriculture
7th semester
IAAS, Paklihawa Campus

2. Classification
 Kingdom: Animalia
 Phylum: Arthropoda
 Class: Insecta
 Order: Lepidoptera
 Family: Sphingidae
 Genus: Daphnis
 Species: nerii

3. Introduction
 “Oleander” in the “Oleander Hawkmoth” refers to the host plant it feeds on in
the larval stage, Nerium oleander (family Apocynaceae). It is also sometimes
referred to as the Army Green Hawkmoth for its foliage-like colours and
patterns.
 Daphnis nerii is a large hawk-moth found in wide areas of Africa and Asia.
 It is a migratory species, flying to parts of eastern and southern Europe during
the summer.
 Daphnis nerii (Oleander Sphinx Moth or Oleander Hawk-Moth) is one of the
most beautiful butterfly-like patterned moths on Earth.
 The caterpillars actually feed on the Oleander plant, much of which is very toxic
to humans…but to which they have a high tolerance!
 The adults feed on nectar of a great variety of flowers. They have a preference
for fragrant species like petunia, jasmine and honeysuckle. They are especially
active in the twilight time, hovering over the flowers after sunset.

4. Lifecycle:

5. Egg stage:
 Eggs were laid mostly singly on the underside of leaves
and flowers of the host plant.
 The eggs are almost spherical and about1.5 mm in
diameter. They are generally pale green in colour with a
smooth chorion that is shiny.
Photo from google

6. Larva Stage:
First Instar Larva:
 When the caterpillars first hatch they are about 3 to 4
mm in length and are bright yellow in colour. They
possess a long, thin, black horn on their posterior which
tapers towards the end.
 photo from google

7. Second Instar Larva:
 After the first moult, a pair of dorso-lateral lines start to
appear on the first abdominal segment to the last.
 the tail horn becomes a white tip and the larva becomes
an apple-green colour.
 Eye-spots start to appear on the third thoracic segment.
Photo from google

8. Third instar larva:
 The eye-spots become more pronounced and the white
lateral lines separate into circles with a pale blue ring with a
white centre, outlined by black.
 The spiracles become an obvious black.
Photo captured during rearing

9. Fourth Instar Larva:
 The walking legs begin to turn pink and the tail horn
becomes yellow instead of black.
 The lateral lines seem to consist a more dorsal band of yellow and
below that a band of pale blue with the ringed circles as in earlier
instars.

10. Fifth instar larva:
 The tapered horn becomes rounded and bulbous with bright yellow
colouration.
 As it comes closer to pupating, the larva changes from green to brown
as shown on the right.
 The white spots of the dorso-lateral line remain as in the earlier instars.

11. Fifth Instar Larva:

12. Pupa:
 The pupal case had darkened, especially the wing case. The
patterns of the wings can be seen.
 The pupa of this species measures around 5.5 to 7.5
centimetres in length, and is light brown with black spots and
a black line down the middle.

13. Adult:
 It took about 45 minutes for the wings to be fully pumped with
fluids.
 The adult has a greenish head, with rufous in front and a grey
band on the vertex.
 The thorax is green, and the collar outlined in grey.
 There is a triangular grey patch on the vertex.
 Abdomen is pale greenish with oblique lines at the side
paired dark green lateral blotches on the penultimate
segment and a single dorsal blotch on the ultimate segment.
 Forewings are dark green and a white patch with a black spot
on it at base.
 Hindwings are fuscous with a pale curved submarginal line,
beyond which the area is olivaceus.
 Ventral side is suffused with chestnut colour and a white
submarginal line on both wings. A white speck is present at
the end of the hindwing.

15. Pupal case:

16. Objectives:
 To know about the methods of
rearing insects.
 To be able to know about the life
cycle of Oleander Hawk Moth.

17. Rearing materials:
 Rearing bottle or box
 Insect egg or larva
 Feed: Jasminum (jasmine) leaf
Rearing box

18. Methodology:
 The larva of hawk moth was collected by
hand picking from the leaf of jasmine of
IAAS Narayani Hostel.
 Then, it was reared in plastic rearing
box.
 Leaves of jasmine was given as feed to
the larva.
 With the time, larva grows and became
pupa and adult Hawk moth finally.
 The excreta produced by larva was
removed and feed was changed daily.

19. Conclusion:
 I successful reared Oleander Hawk Moth from larval stage to adult
with complete observation and study of all the stages.
• Insect rearing was not only educational, but also found to be
enjoyable.

20. References:
 https://wiki.nus.edu.sg/display/TAX/Daphnis+nerii+-
+Oleander+Hawkmoth
 http://www.bigbunnytrails.com/2015/03/life-cycle-of-oleander-
hawkmoth-daphnis.html
# some photos of this presentation are inserted from google so these
photos are copyright of the corresponding photographer.

21. Thank You !!!