Macroglossum milvus is a moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 of the Sphingidae

Sphingidae

Sphingidae is a family of moths , commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths and hornworms, that includes about 1,200 species . It is best represented in the tropics but there are species in every region . They are moderate to large in size and are distinguished among moths for their rapid,...

 family. It is known from Réunion

Réunion

Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...

 (formerly known as Île Bourbon) and Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

.

The head and thorax uppersides have a dark mesial line. The abdomen upperside has four orange lateral patches, of which the first is the smallest. The thorax underside is clayish reddish cinnamon. The palpus is more grey, with a purer white side-stripe. The abdomen underside is tawny. Both wings undersides are bright tawny, with the inconspicuous distal borders a duller brown and the extreme bases more or less yellow, especially near the inner edge of the hindwing. The hindwing upperside is bright tawny, without a dark border and the extreme base is brownish black. The yellow antemedian band is ill-defined.

The larvae feed on Mussaenda arcuata, Diana fragans and Chassalia corallioides.