| Niphopyralis | |
|---|---|
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| Niphopyralis chionesis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Crambidae |
| Tribe: | Wurthiini |
| Genus: | Niphopyralis Hampson, 1893 [1] |
| Synonyms | |
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Niphopyralis is a genus of snout moths of the subfamily Spilomelinae in the family Crambidae.
The reports on larvae are somewhat divergent, depending on the species and the condition of the larvae (fresh versus alcohol-preserved): The fully-grown caterpillar of Niphopyralis myrmecophila (according to material preserved in alcohol) is approximately 14 mm in length, 4.4 mm thick at its largest diameter, and completely colourless, with the spiracles visible as fine, shiny colourless dots. The larval body is naked, hardly flattened, markedly tapered anteriorly and posteriorly, with all segments bulging out almost in a physogastric way. The head is small and prognathous. The thoracal legs are well developed, the prolegs are strongly reduced, and only at high magnification the single circle of crochets and the small papilla are visible; the anal prolegs are completely reduced, [2] but this may be due to the investigated larvae being in the process of pupation. [3]
The fully-grown caterpillar of Niphopyralis aurivillii are 6 to 7.5 mm long and 1.5 mm thick, and is tapers only slightly towards the ends. The body has a yellow-white colour, with head and pronotum somewhat darker. The entire body is diffusely covered with long, soft, colourless chaetae. The head is about two thirds the breadth of the pronotum, almost twice as long as broad, and tapered towards the front. The two epicranial halves are almost triangular and encompass a large tongue-shaped frontal plate that reaches posteriad to the occipital opening. Each side of the head bears six ocelli, with the upper five in a curved line, and the sixth separate more ventral; the latter ocellus is not pigmented like the others. The larval antennae are consist of three merons. The mandibles long and conspicuously pointed in young larvae, more blunt in older larvae. The labium carries a well-developed spinneret. The thoracal and abdominal segments are weakly chitinised. The somewhat stronger chitinised pronotum is about twice as long as the meso- and metathorax. Thoracal legs are well-developed. Abdominal segments 1 to 7 are almost uniform, the eighth and ninth narrower, and the anal plate rounded. The four pairs of prolegs on abdominal segments 3 to 6 are well-developed, with a single, entire circle of crochets; half-grown larvae have 11 to 14 crochets, fully grown ones up to 25. The well-developed anal prolegs have an angularly curved frontal row of 11 crochets in falf-grown larvae and more in older ones. [3]
The pupa is stout and slightly flattened. [2] In Niphopyralis aurivillii , the pupa is 6 to 6.5 mm long and 2 mm broad, and of a light brown-yellow colour. The imago emerges from a mouthlike cleft on one end of the cocoon. [3]
Imagines of Niphopyralis exhibit an unusual, somewhat Limacodidae-like habitus. Furthermore, they lack a proboscis, have reduced palpi, and the males exhibit bipectinate antennae, a mix of characters that for a long time hindered their correct placement among Lepidoptera (see Systematics).
The wingspan ranges from 12 to 22 mm, and the males being smaller than the females. The lower two thirds of the male antennae are bipectinate with ciliated teeth approximately as long as the antenna’s breadth. The compound eyes are large and rounded. A proboscis and ocelli are absent, and the labial palps are small. The body and wings are whitish to cream, with the front wing upper side usually exhibiting a diffuse wing pattern, whereas the underside has a dark brown colour.
DNA barcode data for different, mostly unidentified species of Niphopyralis are stored in the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD), although only part of the sequences are publicly accessible. [4]
The caterpillar of Niphopyralis myrmecophila lives in a flat oval self-spun casing consisting of two slightly curved halves that fit precisely onto one another. The halves are only loosely spun together, so that they can be easily separated. The casing tissue is relatively coarse. The outside colour is a dirty white, the inner side is lighter. The casing of a fully-grown caterpillar measures 15 x 11 mm, and the caterpillar is fully concealed by it. The larval cases seem to lie loosely in the nests of their host ants. [2] Caterpillars of N. aurivillii have also been observed to live freely in the nests, and only occasionally they are found on the nest ground, fixed by a loose weave of a few crossed threads. Fully-grown larvae are also found in pupal ant cocoons, where they feed on the ant pupa. However, for pupation they also spin a cocoon similar to that of N. myrmecophila . [3] The observations of Roepke (1916) on N. myrmecophila might therefore refer only to fully grown caterpillars, while the younger caterpillars potentially also live freely in the ant nests, but were not observed.
The caterpillars are fully tolerated in the nest, but are not cared for by the host ants. They actively participate in the maintenance of the ant nest by repairing and reinforcing walls with spinning thread. Small caterpillars live among eggs and small ant larvae on which they feed, as examinations of the gut contents have shown. Larger caterpillars are found among ant larvae and pupae. In cases where the ant colony is moving to a new nest, small caterpillars are carried passively to the new nest, but not actively by the ants, whereas large caterpillars remain in the old nest. [3]
The adult moths are diurnal. The flight is neither fast nor lengthy, and with rapid wing movement. After settling down, the moth usually walks a short distance, with its wings held horizontally and skewed backwards. In resting position, the wings are normally held vertically, covering the body from the sides, and the abdomen is raised to approximately 45°. Like the caterpillars and pupae, the adults are not attacked by the ants. [3]
The genus currently comprises eight species: [1]
The genus Niphopyralis was described by George Hampson in 1893, who placed it in the subfamily Pyraustinae, [5] :181 but later transferred it to Schoenobiinae. [6] :x Twenty-three years later, in 1916, Walter Karl Johann Roepke described Wurthia and erected the new subfamily Wurthiinae, which he placed in Arctiidae (now Arctiinae). [2]
Kemner (1923) transferred Wurthia to Schoenobiinae based on similarities to Niphopyralis. [3] Lewvanich (1981) removed Niphopyralis from Schoenobiinae and transferred it to Pyraustinae, [7] while Wurthia remained in Schoenobiinae. Common (1990), realising that Wurthia is misplaced in Schoenobiinae, re-established the subfamily Wurthiinae with this genus as the sole member. [8] Eventually, in 1996, Wurthia was recognized as synonym of Niphopyralis. [9]
Recently, Regier et al. (2012) found Niphopyralis to be an ingroup of Spilomelinae, and they consequently synonymised the name Wurthiinae with Spilomelinae. [10] Since 2019, the name Wurthiini is in use again as tribe of Spilomelinae. [11]
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, with four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and imago. The processes of entering and completing the pupal stage are controlled by the insect's hormones, especially juvenile hormone, prothoracicotropic hormone, and ecdysone. The act of becoming a pupa is called pupation, and the act of emerging from the pupal case is called eclosion or emergence.
The Crambidae are the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, the nominal subfamily Crambinae taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies include brightly coloured and patterned insects which rest in wing-spread attitudes.
The Lasiocampidae are a family of moths also known as eggars, snout moths, or lappet moths. Over 2,000 species occur worldwide, and probably not all have been named or studied.
Liphyra brassolis, the moth butterfly, is a butterfly found in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia that belongs to the lycaenid family. The larvae are predatory and feed on ant larvae. This is one of the largest species of lycaenid butterflies. Several disjunct populations across its wide distribution range are considered as subspecies. Never a common butterfly, specimens of this species are highly prized by collectors.
Spilomelinae is a very species-rich subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae, the crambid snout moths. With 4,132 described species in 340 genera worldwide, it is the most speciose group among pyraloids.
Omiodes continuatalis is a species of moth in the family Crambidae. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui, Lanai and Hawaii. It was first cited as possibly extinct by W.C. Gagné and Francis Gard Howarth in 1982. It was listed as extinct by the Hawaiʻi Biological Survey in 2002 and the IUCN in 2003, but was rediscovered later in 2003.
Diphthera festiva, the hieroglyphic moth, is a species of moth in the family Nolidae and is the only moth in its subfamily Diphtherinae. It is found in the tropical and subtropical areas of South America, Central America, North America, and the Caribbean. In North America, the species has a southeastern distribution from South Carolina west to Texas along the Gulf Coast. Strays have been recorded as far north as Michigan and Missouri. The wingspan is 37–48 mm (1.5–1.9 in). This species is occasionally considered a pest on soybeans. It was described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775.
Agrotera is a genus of snout moths in the subfamily Spilomelinae of the family Crambidae. It is the type genus of the tribe Agroterini and currently comprises 28 species distributed in the Afrotropical, Palearctic, Indomalayan and Australasian realm.
Hydropionea is a genus of moths of the family Crambidae. The 13 described species are distributed in Central and South America.
Laniifera is a genus of snout moths in the subfamily Spilomelinae of the family Crambidae. The genus was erected by George Hampson in 1899 with Pachynoa cycladesDruce, 1895 as type species.
Udea is a genus of snout moths in the subfamily Spilomelinae of the family Crambidae. The genus was erected by Achille Guenée in 1845. The currently known 214 species are present on all continents except Antarctica. About 41 species are native to Hawaii.
Terastia is a genus of snout moths in the subfamily Spilomelinae of the family Crambidae. It was described by Achille Guenée in 1854 with Terastia meticulosalis as type species. The genus is currently placed in the tribe Margaroniini, where it is closely related to the genera Agathodes and Liopasia.
The external morphology of Lepidoptera is the physiological structure of the bodies of insects belonging to the order Lepidoptera, also known as butterflies and moths. Lepidoptera are distinguished from other orders by the presence of scales on the external parts of the body and appendages, especially the wings. Butterflies and moths vary in size from microlepidoptera only a few millimetres long, to a wingspan of many inches such as the Atlas moth. Comprising over 160,000 described species, the Lepidoptera possess variations of the basic body structure which has evolved to gain advantages in adaptation and distribution.
Amyna axis, the eight-spot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852.
Omiodes antidoxa is a moth of the family Crambidae. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Oahu.
Scirpophaga flavidorsalis is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by George Hampson in 1919. It is found in Yunnan, China, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Thailand, western Malaysia, Java, the Philippines, New Guinea and Australia.
Scirpophaga nivella is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1794. It is found in southern Asia from the Indian Subcontinent in the west to southern China in the east, south to New Guinea and Australia, including New Caledonia and Fiji. Some sources have affixed the common name "sugarcane top borer" to it, despite it not being found in sugarcane, because they are confused with the species Scirpophaga excerptalis, which is an actual borer in the tops of sugarcane. Another newer common name that has been invented for these moths is "white rice borer".
Niphopyralis myrmecophila is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Roepke in 1916. It is found in Indonesia (Java).
Wurthiini is a tribe of the species-rich subfamily Spilomelinae in the pyraloid moth family Crambidae.
Malickyella is a genus of snout moth in the species-rich subfamily Spilomelinae of the family Crambidae. The genus was described in 2010 by the German entomologists Wolfram Mey and Wolfgang Speidel based on material from South-East Asia. The four species of the genus are distributed in the lowland forests of the Indomalayan realm, stretching from the Indian state of Assam to the Philippines.