Cometaster

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Faint owl moth
Cometaster pyrula, Phakama, a.jpg
Scientific classification
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Genus:
Cometaster

Hampson, 1913
Species:
C. pyrula
Binomial name
Cometaster pyrula
(Hopffer, 1857)
Synonyms

Generic

Specific

  • Spirama pyrulaHopffer, 1858
  • Spirama lucidusFelder, 1874
  • Spirama lucida

Cometaster is a monotypic moth genus of the family Erebidae erected by George Hampson in 1913. [1] Its only species, Cometaster pyrula, the faint owl moth or ying-yang moth, was first described by Carl Heinrich Hopffer in 1857. [2] [3]

Contents

Distribution

It is found in Eastern and Southern Africa, mainly in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. [2]

Biological control agent

In October 2004, as part of a biological control project, larvae of this moth from South Africa were released in Queensland, Australia, in order to keep under control the type of acacia Acacia nilotica subsp. indica, a major invasive species in the Mitchell Grass Downs. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Acacia sensu lato</i>

Acacia s.l., known commonly as mimosa, acacia, thorntree or wattle, is a polyphyletic genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae. It was described by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773 based on the African species Acacia nilotica. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not. All species are pod-bearing, with sap and leaves often bearing large amounts of tannins and condensed tannins that historically found use as pharmaceuticals and preservatives.

<i>Vachellia farnesiana</i> Species of plant

Vachellia farnesiana, also known as Acacia farnesiana, and previously Mimosa farnesiana, commonly known as sweet acacia, huisache or needle bush, is a species of shrub or small tree in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is deciduous over part of its range, but evergreen in most locales. The species grows to a height of 15–30 feet (4.6–9.1 m) and grows multiple trunks. The base of each leaf is accompanied by a pair of thorns on the branch. Its flowers are used in the perfume industry.

<i>Acacia</i> Genus of plants

Acacia, commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia, but is has now been limited to contain only the Australasian species. The genus name is New Latin, borrowed from the Greek ἀκακία (akakia), a term used by Dioscorides for a preparation extracted from the leaves and fruit pods of Vachellia nilotica, the original type of the genus. In his Pinax (1623), Gaspard Bauhin mentioned the Greek ἀκακία from Dioscorides as the origin of the Latin name.

<i>Vachellia nilotica</i> Species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae

Vachellia nilotica is a flowering plant tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. It is also a Weed of National Significance in Australia as well as a Federal Noxious Weed in the United States.

Leslie Pedley was an Australian botanist who specialised in the genus Acacia. He is notable for bringing into use the generic name Racosperma, creating a split in the genus with some 900 Australian species requiring to be renamed, since the type species of Acacia, Acacia nilotica, now Vachellia nilotica, had a different lineage from the Australian wattles. However, the International Botanical Congress (IBC) in Melbourne in 2011 ratified their earlier decision to retain the name Acacia for the Australian species and to rename the African species.

<i>Vachellia karroo</i>

Vachellia karroo, commonly known as the Sweet thorn, is a species of acacia, native to southern Africa from southern Angola east to Mozambique, and south to South Africa.

<i>Acacia longifolia</i> Species of plant

Acacia longifolia is a species of Acacia native to southeastern Australia, from the extreme southeast of Queensland, eastern New South Wales, eastern and southern Victoria, and southeastern South Australia. Common names for it include long-leaved wattle, acacia trinervis, aroma doble, golden wattle, coast wattle, sallow wattle and Sydney golden wattle. It is not listed as being a threatened species, and is considered invasive in Portugal and South Africa. In the southern region of Western Australia, it has become naturalised and has been classed as a weed by out-competing indigenous species. It is a tree that grows very quickly reaching 7–10 m in five to six years.

Vachellia nilotica subsp. nilotica is a perennial tree native to Africa. It has also been introduced to the Indian Ocean area and to the Middle East.

<i>Olene mendosa</i> Species of moth

Olene mendosa, the brown tussock moth or hairy tussock moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1823. It is found in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia.

Ochrota is a genus of moths in the subfamily Arctiinae erected by Carl Heinrich Hopffer in 1898.

<i>Acontia</i> Genus of moths

Acontia is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae. The genus was named by Ferdinand Ochsenheimer in 1816. Eusceptis, Pseudalypia and Spragueia are sometimes included in the present genus, but here they are tentatively treated as different pending further research. Many species of Tarache were also once placed here.

<i>Pseudozarba</i> Genus of moths

Pseudozarba is a genus of moths in the subfamily Eustrotiinae of the family Noctuidae. The genus was described by Warren in 1913.

<i>Vachellia</i>

Vachellia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, commonly known as thorn trees or acacias. It belongs to the subfamily Mimosoideae. Its species were considered members of genus Acacia until 2009. Vachellia can be distinguished from other acacias by its capitate inflorescences and spinescent stipules. Before discovery of the New World, Europeans in the Mediterranean region were familiar with several species of Vachellia, which they knew as sources of medicine, and had names for them that they inherited from the Greeks and Romans.

Ceutholopha isidis is a species of snout moth in the genus Ceutholopha. It was described by Zeller in 1867, and is known from Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Congo, Indonesia, Iran, Italy (Lampedusa), Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Réunion, South Africa, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. One specimen was caught on 18 August 2012, at Dymchurch, England by J. E. Owen. The moth is either an adventive, or a possible immigrant because it arrived during a period of immigration.

<i>Synaphea spinulosa</i> Species of Australian shrub in the family Proteaceae

Synaphea spinulosa is a species of small shrub in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. It is endemic to Western Australia. Together with Acacia truncata, it was the first Australian endemic to be scientifically described and named, and the specimen upon which that description is based is the oldest extant specimen of an Australian plant, and very likely among the first Australian plant specimens ever collected.

<i>Balanophora fungosa</i>

Balanophora fungosa, sometimes known as fungus root is a flowering plant in the family Balanophoraceae and occurs in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and some Pacific Islands. It is an obligate parasite growing on the roots of rainforest trees. The flowering structure is shaped like a puffball but in fact consists of a globe covered with thousands of tiny female flowers. The globe is surrounded at its base by a much smaller number of male flowers. In flower, the plant emits an odour resembling that of mice.

<i>Uromycladium tepperianum</i>

Uromycladium tepperianum is a rust fungus that infects over 100 species of Acacia and related genera including Paraserianthes in Australia, south-east Asia, the south Pacific and New Zealand. The acacia gall rust fungus species Uromycladium tepperianum has been introduced to South Africa as a biological control on the invasive Australian shrub Acacia saligna.

Comibaena cassidara is a moth of the family Geometridae first described by Achille Guenée in 1857. It is found in Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Pakistan, China, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Borneo.

Pteroma plagiophleps is a moth of the family Psychidae first described by George Hampson in 1892. It is found in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia.

References

  1. Savela, Markku (August 2, 2019). "Cometaster Hampson, 1913". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Cometaster pyrula (Hopffer, 1857)". African Moths. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  3. Pitkin, Brian & Jenkins, Paul (November 5, 2004). "Genus details: Cometaster". Butterflies and Moths of the World. Natural History Museum, London . Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  4. Rangaswamy Muniappan, Gadi V. P. Reddy & Anantanarayanan Raman (eds.), Biological Control of Tropical Weeds Using Arthropods, Cambridge University Press 2009, pg. 26