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March 2017. Two insects sent for identification from the National Biosecurity Agency, Seychelles. The first photo (the black and white butterfly, left), some persons are claiming it to be a new introduction into Seychelles. The second is a moth (right) collected at a private residence.
A member (Seelavarn Ganeshan) wrote: the sphinx is probably Deilephila nerii and the butterfly Papilio demodocus. While the sphinx was previously recorded in Seychelles, I can’t see any record of Papilio in Seychelles. So it might be new. The larvae feeds on citrus leaves and other Rutaceae.
Another (Georg Goergen) thought is was Papilio erithnioidesGrose-Smith a species belonging to the family Papilionidae (Swallowtails and Swordtails) that has until now been confined to Madagascar. Depending on the author this butterfly has been treated as a subspecies of Papilio demodocusEsper; however, to date it is recognized as a valid species. This butterfly is definitively new for the Seychelles where only two species within the family Papilionidae are known to occur until now i.e. Papilio dardanusBrown and Papilio phorbataL. (extinct).
Daphnis nerii(L.) (Le.: Sphingidae) the oleander hawkmoth, a highly polyphagous paleotropical species known to occur on the Seychelles.
A third member (Matthew Cock) thought that the butterfly was the Asian citrus swallowtail, Papilio demoleusLinnaeus (not the African look-alike P. demodocusEsper). It is found from Arabia to the Pacific. And the moth, Daphnis nerii(Linnaeus), the oleander hawkmoth. The butterfly does not seem to have been recorded from the Seychelles before, but the moth is resident.
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