Biston suppressaria

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Tea looper
Biston suppressaria male upperside and underside.JPG
Male, upperside and underside
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Geometridae
Genus: Biston
Species:
B. suppressaria
Binomial name
Biston suppressaria
(Guenée, 1858) [1]
Synonyms
  • Amphidasys suppressariaGuenée, 1858
  • Buzura suppressaria
  • Buzura suppressaria benescriptaProut, 1915
  • Biston (Buzura) suppressaria f. benesparsaWehrli, 1941
  • Buzura multipunctariaWalker, 1863
  • Biston luculentusInoue, 1992

Biston suppressaria, the tea looper, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found in China (Henan, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Hong Kong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet), India, Myanmar, Nepal, [1] and Sri Lanka. [2]

Contents

Female, upperside and underside Biston suppressaria female upperside and underside.JPG
Female, upperside and underside

Description

The wingspan of the male is 60–70 mm and the female is 74–80 mm. The proboscis is more developed. Frons less hairy. Hind tibia with the first pair of spurs medial. Wings with the outer margins non-crenulate. Antennae of male bipectinate (comb like on both sides) with short stiff branches. Body grey with black irrorations (sprinklings). Head ochreous. Thorax and abdomen with yellow bars. Forewings with waved yellow antemedial band. Both wings with irregularly sinuous indistinct yellow medial line curved outward beyond the cell of forewings. There is an ill-defined postmedial maculate band angled at vein 5 of both wings, with some outer margin of forewing. A marginal yellow spots series present. [3]

Larva dark green with dark somital bands and slight sub-lateral line. Spiracles white ringed with red and red centers. Tubercle on first somite and legs purple. Female larva much pale green. Larva known to feed on Cassia auriculata , Acacia , Albizia , Camellia sinensis , Chrysanthemum indicum , Dalbergia latifolia , Eucalyptus , Litchi chinensis , Mangifera indica , Paulownia tomentosa , Phyllanthus emblica , Prunus domestica , Prunus salicina , Psidium guajava , and Vernicia fordii . [4]

Attack and prevention

Caterpillars of tea loopers are minor pests of many cultivated crops. [5] Infected plants show symptoms similar to Ectropis bhurmitra . Leaves are bored and sometimes cut along the margins in a characteristic way. Damage from late instars show heavy dieback and complete leaf senescence. Damage occurs mostly during the night and early mornings. They rest on twigs and branches during the day. [4]

Adults are usually trapped by light and pheromone traps. Caterpillars and pupa can removed by hand picking. Many biological parasites and diseases readily control the damage from the tea looper in India and Sri Lanka, but outbreaks can be seen with pesticide use. Parasitoid Apanteles are excellent example. In China, nuclear polyhedrosis virus extracts are used extensively, which is host specific. Bacillus thuringiensis and its strain B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki are also used by farmers in Assam, India. [4]

Chemical control is common in any regions with heavy attack. DDT, BHC (Lindane) or Parathion are effective measures. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Biston</i> (moth) Genus of moths

Biston is a genus of large, long-winged moths belonging to the family Geometridae. It is most notable for containing the well-known peppered moth. The genus was first described by William Elford Leach in 1815.

<i>Anomis sabulifera</i> Species of moth

Anomis sabulifera, the angled gem or jute semi-looper, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It has a Paleotropical distribution and ranges from Africa eastwards to India, Sri Lanka and Australia. A single record was found from Britain.

<i>Thyas coronata</i> Species of moth

Thyas coronata is a species of moth of the family Erebidae first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. It is found from the Indo-Australian tropics of southern China, Taiwan, Japan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka to Micronesia and the Society Islands.

<i>Oxyodes scrobiculata</i> Species of moth

Oxyodes scrobiculata, the longan semi-looper or longan leaf-eating looper, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The common name "looper" is used despite looper moths generally being in the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. It is found from the Indo-Australian tropics of India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, China, east to Guam, Queensland, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

<i>Chiasmia nora</i> Species of moth

Chiasmia nora is a moth in the family Geometridae, described by Francis Walker in 1861. It is found in northern India, Sri Lanka, south-eastern Asia and probably throughout Sundaland.

<i>Calyptra minuticornis</i> Species of moth

Calyptra minuticornis, the vampire moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It has been found in Indonesia, Java, India, Sri Lanka, and Australasia.

<i>Penicillaria jocosatrix</i> Species of moth

Penicillaria jocosatrix, the mango shoot borer, is a moth of the family Noctuidae first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It is found from southeast Asia to the Pacific. Records include Borneo, Guam, Hawaii, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and in Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.

<i>Biston robustum</i> Species of moth

Biston robustum is a species of moth belonging to the family Geometridae. This is a large moth and is known in its native range as the giant geometer moth. It is related, and generally similar, to the famous and widespread Peppered Moth.

<i>Biston panterinaria</i> Species of moth

Biston panterinaria is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found in China, India, Nepal, Sikkim, Vietnam and Thailand.

<i>Ericeia inangulata</i> Species of moth

Ericeia inangulata, the sober tabby, is a moth in the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It is found in the Indo-Australian tropics of China, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and the Marianas and Carolines, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Samoa.

<i>Scopula fibulata</i> Species of geometer moth in subfamily Sterrhinae

Scopula fibulata is a moth of the family Geometridae first described by Achille Guenée in 1858. It is found in Kenya, Sri Lanka and China.

<i>Nagia linteola</i> Species of moth

Nagia linteola is a species of moth in the family Erebidae first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. This species occurs in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, the Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Indonesia (Borneo), India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and in Australia, where it has been recorded from Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and Victoria.

Racotis boarmiaria is a species of moth of the family Geometridae described by Achille Guenée in 1857. It is found in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Myanmar, China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Bhutan and Malaysia.

Sauris hirudinata is a moth of the family Geometridae. It was described by Achille Guenée in 1858. It is found in Fiji, Sri Lanka, India, Hong Kong, as well as on Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.

<i>Catoria sublavaria</i> Species of moth

Catoria sublavaria is a moth of the family Geometridae described by Achille Guenée in 1857. It is found in the tropics of India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, towards New Guinea, to the Bismarck Islands and Taiwan.

<i>Hyposidra talaca</i> Species of moth

Hyposidra talaca, the black looper or black inch worm, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Francis Walker in 1860. It is found from India to Indochina, Sundaland, Sulawesi, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, Taiwan, New Guinea and Australia, where it has been recorded from Queensland. It is a major defoliating pest in tea plantations.

<i>Amblychia angeronaria</i> Species of moth

Amblychia angeronaria is a moth of the family Geometridae first described by Achille Guenée in 1858. It is found in Sri Lanka, northern India, Korea, Andaman Islands to Taiwan, Borneo, Sumatra, Korea Japan and Australia.

<i>Ectropis bhurmitra</i> Species of moth

Ectropis bhurmitra, the tea twig caterpillar, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Francis Walker in 1860. A widespread Asian species, it is found around Indo-Australian tropics from India, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, New Guinea to Australian Queensland and the Solomon Islands.

<i>Ophthalmitis herbidaria</i> Species of moth

Ophthalmitis herbidaria is a moth of the family Geometridae first described by Achille Guenée in 1858. It is found in China, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Naranga diffusa, the rice green semilooper, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Francis Walker in 1865. It is found in many agricultural based countries such as Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, China, Hong Kong, Iran, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.

References

  1. 1 2 A review of Biston Leach, 1815 (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Ennominae) from China, with description of one new species
  2. ↑ "The Bionomics of Tea Looper (Biston suppressaria Guen.) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)" (PDF). dl.nsf.ac. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  3. ↑ Hampson, G. F. (1895). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Vol. Moths Volume III. Taylor and Francis – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  4. 1 2 3 "Tea looper (Biston suppressaria)". Plantwise Technical Factsheet. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  5. ↑ "Biston suppressaria (Guenee)". ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "Looper Caterpillar (Biston suppressaria): Distribution, Life Cycle and Control". YourArticleLibrary. 2014-01-20. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
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