Rhagastis meridionalis 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 Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

.

Taxonomy

It was described as a subspecies of Rhagastis acuta

Rhagastis acuta

Rhagastis acuta is a moth of the Sphingidae family. It is known from south-east Asia, including India, Thailand and Indonesia.It is similar to Rhagastis velata and Rhagastis hayesi. The upperside of the abdomen has a pair of vestigial or well-developed lateral golden stripes. The forewing upperside...

and synonymized with the nominotypical subspecies by Clark in 1929. It was reinstated as a subspecies by Bridges in 1993, resynonymized with the nominotypical subspecies by Kitching and Cadiou and 2000 and finally raised to species status by Haxaire and Melichar in 2010.