Emporia melanobasis

Emporia melanobasis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pyralidae
Genus:	Emporia
Species:	E. melanobasis
Binomial name
Emporia melanobasis Balinsky, 1991 [1]

Emporia melanobasis is a species of snout moth in the genus Emporia . It was described by Boris Balinsky in 1991, and is known from South Africa.

Jumping beans

S. africana mericarp with Emporia melanobasis larva

The larvae pupate ^[2] inside fruit of Spirostachys africana . Larvae develop with the growing fruits which show no external damage. When the fruits are mature each splits into three cocci. The larvae jack-knife inside the fallen segments, causing them to move about erratically and vigorously, to the surprise of the uninitiated. This has led to the name "jumping bean tree".

A similar phenomenon occurs with the Mexican jumping bean, Sebastiania sp., which also belong to the Euphorbia family. This bean is parasitised by the moth Cydia saltitans .

References

1. "GlobIZ search". Global Information System on Pyraloidea. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
2. Janse, A. T. (March 1920). "The jumping bean — Emporia melanobasis, Hmpsn". South African Journal of Natural History. 2 (1): 121–124. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .