Scirpophaga nivella

Last updated

Sugarcane top borer
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Crambidae
Genus: Scirpophaga
Species:
S. nivella
Binomial name
Scirpophaga nivella
(Fabricius, 1794) Lewvanich, 1981
Synonyms [1]
  • Tinea nivellaFabricius, 1794
  • Tryporyza nivella(Fabricius, 1794) Wang, 1980
  • Crambus niveusFabricius, 1798
  • Scirpophaga chrysorrhoa Zeller, 1863
  • Scirpophaga aurifluaZeller, 1863
  • Scirpophaga brunnescens Moore, 1888
  • Schoenobius celidias Meyrick, 1894
  • Scirpophaga euclastalis Strand, 1918

Scirpophaga nivella is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1794. [2] 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. [1] Some sources have affixed the common name "sugarcane top borer" to it, [3] 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. [4] Another newer common name that has been invented for these moths is "white rice borer". [5]

Contents

Taxonomy

The species was described in 1794 by Johan Christian Fabricius as Tinea nivella, from a specimen collected in India. It was moved to the genus Tryporyza by Wang in 1980, and a year later it was moved again to the genus Scirpophaga by the Thai entomologist Angoon Lewvanich. [1]

The genus Scirpophaga was first introduced by Georg Friedrich Treitschke in 1832 as a monotypic genus; Treitschke gives as etymology for the generic epithet the word Scirpus , a type of plant commonly known as a "rush", and the Ancient Greek word φαγεῖν (transliterated phageîn), which means "to eat". [6] [7]

The holotype is a female specimen from India kept at the Zoologisk Museum in Copenhagen, with the genitalia on a slide numbered 3602. [6]

Description

The wingspan is about 28–30 mm in males and 24–50 mm in females. [8] Hindwings with veins 4 and 5 well separated at origin. A pure white moth with orange anal tuft, sometimes brownish in the female. The larvae are off white with a reddish dorsal line. [9]

Similar species

Many, if not all, records of the moth Scirpophaga nivella in the cane fields of Asia are in fact of S. excerptalis. All species of Scirpophaga are indistinguishable from each other as caterpillars, very difficult to distinguish as females, and can best be distinguished by examining the male genitalia or by sequencing and comparing the DNA. [4] Specimens of S. nivella were formerly mistakenly identified as S. chrysorrhoa. [6]

Chen & Wu find the males resemble S. xanthopygata the most, and progressively less so to S. praelata and S. humilis. The females can be distinguished from others of the genus by having an antrum with a separate sclerotized tip. They are most similar to S. parvalis and to others within the S. praelata group, which includes all of the species mentioned in this paragraph. [1]

A 2019 study of the DNA found that the species S. innotata, an important pest of rice, is most likely conspecific with this species. [10]

Distribution

According to Chen & Wu it is found in China (including Henan, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Hong Kong, Guangxi, Yunnan), Taiwan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, on the Andaman Islands, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, western Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia (including Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Timor, Aru Islands), New Guinea, Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji. [1]

Another source has it occurring in much of the same as above, but has it occurring in Pakistan, but not in Australia. [11]

Another source, CAB International, has it in much of the same, but includes both Pakistan and Australia. [5]

In 1981 Lewvanich complies the distribution as including Fiji and New Caledonia. [6]

The distribution in Australia is given by Ian Francis Bell Common in his account of S. chrysorrhoa, which is name he misidentifies this species as. [6] [12]

Because most of the distribution is garnered from misidentified collections made over the past century, of the sources above only Lewvanich can be accepted as trustworthy, and it is unclear where exactly the species occurs.

Ecology

Food plants

A major food plant is often erroneously believed to be sugarcane. This is due to most records of this moth to actually be of the species Scirpophaga excerptalis . Although this situation was resolved taxonomically by a 1981 publication by Lewvanich, many reports have continued to erroneously misidentify S. excerptalis as S. nivella. [4]

Cyperus , Eleocharis and Scirpus are actually the main host plants of the moth. [5] Oryza sativa (rice) is sometimes affected, [4] [5] but the scarcity of recent reports of this moth infecting rice likely means that it is only a minor pest of rice. [5]

Parasitoids

The Indian agronomic entomologist Dhamo K. Butani documented a Temelucha species parasitising the moth in rice fields in India. [11]

Uses

The species has historically been considered a potential pest of sugarcane, and often still is, although publications in 1981 and later in 2003 have made clear this species does not attack sugarcane. It may, however, occasionally be found in rice. [4]

Damage

Caterpillars bore into the midrib of the leaf, leaving red markings and small holes on the leaves. Then it bores further to the upper portion of stem, causing "dead heart" symptoms as the top of the shoot dies off. Gradually, side branches start growing from a lower node, giving a characteristic "bunchy top" appearance to the plant. [13]

Control

Mechanical control is achieved by destroying crops in the infected part of the field and by collecting and destroying the egg masses. [3]

Chemical control is difficult but possible. Spraying low dosages of malathion, endosulfan or carbofuran during the period the moths lay their eggs has been effective. It has also been recommended to dust crops with moderate concentrations of carbofuran or high concentrations of dieldrin, endrin or lindane during the period the adult moths emerge from their cocoons. [3] Note that this information is very old, most of these products have been banned internationally for agricultural use.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crambidae</span> Family of moths

Crambidae comprises the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, with 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 that rest in wing-spread attitudes.

<i>Scirpus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Scirpus is a genus of grass-like species in the sedge family Cyperaceae many with the common names club-rush, wood club-rush or bulrush. They mostly inhabit wetlands and damp locations.

<i>Scirpophaga</i> Genus of moths

Scirpophaga is a genus of moths of the family Crambidae described by Georg Friedrich Treitschke in 1832. Asian species include significant rice stemborer pests.

<i>Maliarpha separatella</i> Species of moth

Maliarpha separatella, the African white stemborer, is a species of moth of the family Pyralidae. A worldwide paddy pest, it is found throughout African countries of Cameroon, Mali, Réunion, Madagascar, South Africa, and many Asian paddy cultivating countries such as Myanmar, India, and Sri Lanka. Though they are reported from China and Papua New Guinea, they are also known to attack sugarcane.

<i>Scirpophaga praelata</i> Species of moth

Scirpophaga praelata is a species of moth of the family Crambidae. It is found in most of Europe, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, North Africa, Japan, Taiwan, China and Australia.

<i>Scirpophaga incertulas</i> Species of moth

Scirpophaga incertulas, the yellow stem borer or rice yellow stem borer, is a species of moth of the family Crambidae. It was described by Francis Walker in 1863. It is found in Afghanistan, Nepal, north-eastern India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sumba, Sulawesi, the Philippines, Taiwan, China and Japan.

Scirpophaga auristrigellus is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by George Hampson in 1896. It is found in Guangxi, China, India and Bhutan.

Scirpophaga excerptalis, the white top borer or sugarcane top borer, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Francis Walker in 1863. It is found in southern Asia from the Indian Subcontinent in the west to southern China in the east, south to New Guinea, possibly Australia and the Solomon Islands.

Scirpophaga fusciflua is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by George Hampson in 1893. It is found in Taiwan, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Scirpophaga gilviberbis is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Philipp Christoph Zeller in 1863. It is found on the Comoros and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

<i>Scirpophaga imparellus</i> Species of moth

Scirpophaga imparellus is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Edward Meyrick in 1878. It is found in Australia, where it has been recorded from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Scirpophaga magnella is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Joseph de Joannis in 1930. It is found in China, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Scirpophaga marginepunctellus is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Joseph de Joannis in 1927. It is found in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.

Scirpophaga ochroleuca is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Edward Meyrick in 1882. It is found on New Guinea and in Australia, where it has been recorded from Queensland.

Scirpophaga percna is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Ian Francis Bell Common in 1960. It is found on Sulawesi, on New Guinea and northern Australia, where it has been recorded from the Northern Territory and Queensland.

Scirpophaga tongyaii is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Angoon Lewvanich in 1981. It is found in China, India, Myanmar and Thailand.

Scirpophaga virginia is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Schultze in 1908. It is found in China, Taiwan, Japan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, western Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra and the Philippines.

Scirpophaga xanthogastrella is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Francis Walker in 1863. It is found in Taiwan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stemborer</span> Index of animals with the same common name

A stemborer is any insect larva, or arthropod, that bores into plant stems. However the term most frequently refers among the Coleoptera to the larva of certain longhorn beetles such as Dorysthenes buqueti and those of the genus Oberea, and among the Lepidoptera to certain moths of the Crambidae, Castniidae, Gelechiidae, Nolidae, and Pyralidae families.

Sturmiopsis inferens is a species of fly in the family Tachinidae. It is native to Asia and is a parasitoid of various moth species whose larvae feed inside the stems of sugarcane, rice and other large grasses, including the Gurdaspur borer and the sugarcane shoot borer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Chen, Fu-Qiang; Wu, Chun-Sheng (April 2014). "Taxonomic review of the subfamily Schoenobiinae (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea: Crambidae) from China". Zoological Systematics. 39 (2): 163–208. doi:10.11865/zs20140201. Archived from the original on July 2, 2014.
  2. ↑ Nuss, M.; et al. (2003–2014). "GlobIZ search". Global Information System on Pyraloidea. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 Chandra, Girish. "The Sugarcane Top Borer". IASZoology.com. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Mohamed Nader Said Sallam; Peter G. Allsopp (2003). Preparedness for borer incursion: SRDC final project report BSS249 (PDF) (Report). Sugar Research Australia Ltd. p. 11. S2CID   114661210. SD03014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-12-08. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "white rice borer (Scirpophaga nivella)". Plantwise Technical Factsheet. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Lewvanich, Angoon (25 June 1981). "A revision of the Old World species of Scirpophaga (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)". Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History): Entomology. 42: 185–298. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  7. ↑ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940). "φαγεῖν". A Greek–English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  8. ↑ Lepidoptera Larvae of Australia
  9. ↑ Hampson, G. F. (1896). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Vol. Moths Volume IV. Taylor and Francis – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  10. ↑ Lee, Timothy R. C.; Anderson, Stacey J.; Tran-Nguyen, Lucy T. T.; Sallam, Nader; Le Ru, Bruno P.; Conlong, Desmond; Powell, Kevin; Ward, Andrew; Mitchell, Andrew (7 May 2019). "Towards a global DNA barcode reference library for quarantine identifications of lepidopteran stemborers, with an emphasis on sugarcane pests". Scientific Reports. 9 (7039 (2019)): 7039. Bibcode:2019NatSR...9.7039L. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-42995-0. PMC   6504866 . PMID   31065024.
  11. 1 2 Sallam, Mohamed Nader Said (2006). "A review of sugarcane stem borers and their natural enemies in Asia and Indian Ocean Islands: an Australian perspective". Annales de la Société Entomologique de France. 42 (3–4): 263–283. doi: 10.1080/00379271.2006.10697459 . ISSN   2168-6351.
  12. ↑ Common, I. F. B. (1960). "A revision of the Australian Stem Borers hitherto referred to Schoenobius and Scirpophaga (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae, Schoenobiinae)". Australian Journal of Zoology. 8 (2): 307–347. doi:10.1071/ZO9600307.
  13. ↑ "Top-Borer (Scirpophaga nivella) or (Trporyza novella): Distribution, Life Cycle and Control". YourArticleLibrary.com. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
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