Sesamia inferens

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Asiatic pink stem borer
Sesamia inferens dorsal.jpg
Dorsal view
Sesamia inferens ventral.jpg
Ventral view
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Sesamia
Species:
S. inferens
Binomial name
Sesamia inferens
(Walker, 1856)
Synonyms
  • Leucania inferensWalker, 1856
  • Leucania proscriptaWalker, 1856
  • Sesamia tranquilarisButler, 1880
  • Nonagria gracilisButler, 1880
  • Sesamia albicillataSnellen, 1880
  • Nonagria innocensButler, 1881
  • Sesamia creticoidesStrand, 1920
  • Sesamia kosempoanaStrand, 1920
  • Sesamia sokutsuanaStrand, 1920
  • Semasia hirayamaeMatsumura, 1929

Sesamia inferens, the Asiatic pink stem borer, gramineous stem borer, pink borer, pink rice borer, pink rice stem borer, pink stem borer, purple borer, purple stem borer or purplish stem borer, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Francis Walker in 1856. [1] It is found from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar to Japan and the Solomon Islands. [2] A polyphagous species, it is a major pest in many crops worldwide. [3] [4]

Contents

Description

Its wingspan is about 28 mm. Hindwings with veins 3 and 4 from arise from the cell. Antennae of male ciliated and simple in female. Body ochreous. Forewings with a red-brown suffusion along median nervure and veins 2 to 5. A sub-marginal dark line present. Cilia paler. Hindwings are whitish. [5]

Larva smooth and shiny and lack obvious hairs or markings. Color variable but usually cream white with a distinctive pink suffusion. The head and prothoracic shield are brown. The dorsal part of the last abdominal segment bearing the anus is yellowish brown. Mature larvae are between 30–40 mm long, pink with buff and pink dorsal markings and a brown head. Pupae are up to about 18 mm long, brown to yellowish-brown with a wrinkled frontal region of the head and cremaster with four large and two small spines. [6]

Ecology

The larvae mostly feed on Gramineae species, including Coix , Echinochloa , Oryza , Panicum , Saccharum , Setaria , Triticum , Zea and Zizania . Many of the food plants are of economic importance. [7]

Symptoms

The caterpillars mainly bore into rice stems or the base of the panicle. After infection, the stem becomes wilted causing deadheart. Panicle attack leads to panicle to be cut leading to state called whitehead. Symptoms are mostly similar to other stem borers and hence closer look required to control the attack. [8]

Control

Mechanical controlling using hand picking and pheromone traps are used. Cultural practices like crop rotation mechanisms, reducing water levels are also used in controlling. Natural enemies such as parasitoides are very effective and nature loving controlling measures. The tachinid fly Sturmiopsis inferens was also once used, but is now not effective due to their low abundance. [8] In chemical control, BHC, DDT, fenthion, fenitrothion, quinalphos, phosphamidon sprays and granules of lindane are used. Eggs can be eliminated by introducing Trichogramma minutum and Telenomeus species. Apanteles flavipes , Bracon chinensis and Sturmiopsis inferens are effective against caterpillars, whereas Xanthopinpla species and Tetrastichus aygari are used in pupal stages. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noctuidae</span> Type of moths commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms

The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other families of the Noctuoidea. It was considered the largest family in Lepidoptera for a long time, but after regrouping Lymantriinae, Catocalinae and Calpinae within the family Erebidae, the latter holds this title now. Currently, Noctuidae is the second largest family in Noctuoidea, with about 1,089 genera and 11,772 species. This classification is still contingent, as more changes continue to appear between Noctuidae and Erebidae.

<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>Echinochloa frumentacea</i> Species of grass

Echinochloa frumentacea is a species of Echinochloa. Both Echinochloa frumentacea and E. esculenta are called Japanese millet. This millet is widely grown as a cereal in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. Its wild ancestor is the tropical grass Echinochloa colona, but the exact date or region of domestication is uncertain. It is cultivated on marginal lands where rice and other crops will not grow well. The grains are cooked in water, like rice, or boiled with milk and sugar. Sometimes it is fermented to make beer. While also being part of staple diet for some communities in India, these seeds are, in particular, eaten during religious fasting. For this reason, these seeds are commonly also referred to as "vrat ke chawal" in Hindi. Other common names to identify these seeds include oodalu (ಊದಲು) in Kannada, Shyamak (শ্যামাক) or Shyama Chal in Bangla, jhangora in the Garhwal Hills, bhagar (भगर) in Marathi-speaking areas, samo or morio seeds in Gujarati, or kuthiraivaali (குதிரைவாளி) in Tamil.

<i>Chilo suppressalis</i> Species of moth

Chilo suppressalis, the Asiatic rice borer or striped rice stemborer, is a moth of the family Crambidae. It is a widespread species, known from Iran, India, Sri Lanka, China, eastern Asia, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia to the Pacific.

<i>Eldana</i> Genus of moths

Eldana is a genus of moths of the family Pyralidae containing only one species, the African sugar-cane borer, which is commonly found in Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and South Africa. Adults have pale brown forewings with two small spots in the centre and light brown hindwings, and they have a wingspan of 35mm. This species is particularly relevant to humans because the larvae are a pest of the Saccharum species as well as several grain crops such as sorghum and maize. Other recorded host plants are cassava, rice and Cyperus species. When attacking these crops, E. saccharina bores into the stems of their host plant, causing severe damage to the crop. This behavior is the origin of the E. saccharrina's common name, the African sugar-cane borer. The African sugar-cane borer is a resilient pest, as it can survive crop burnings. Other methods such as intercropping and parasitic wasps have been employed to prevent further damage to crops.

<i>Sesamia grisescens</i> Species of moth

Sesamia grisescens, the pink sugarcane borer, pink stalk borer, shoot borer, sugarcane borer or ramu shoot borer, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Warren in 1911. It is found in Papua New Guinea, Seram, the Moluccas and New Britain.

<i>Chilo plejadellus</i> Species of moth

Chilo plejadellus, the rice stalk borer moth, is a moth in the family Crambidae described by Johann Leopold Theodor Friedrich Zincken in 1821. It is found in North America, including Illinois, Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Texas and Arkansas.

Sesamia cretica, the corn stem borer, greater sugarcane borer, sorghum stem borer, stem corn borer, durra stem borer, large corn borer, pink sugarcane borer, sugarcane pink borer, sorghum borer, pink corn borer, maize borer or purple stem borer, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It was described by Julius Lederer in 1857. It is found in most of the countries and islands of the Mediterranean basin. The range extends through the Middle East and Arabia to Pakistan, northern India and northern Africa. In the south, the range extends to northern Kenya and northern Cameroon.

<i>Sesamia nonagrioides</i> Species of moth

Sesamia nonagrioides, the Mediterranean corn borer, pink stalk borer or West African pink borer, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It was described by Alexandre Louis Lefèbvre de Cérisy in 1827. It is found in Spain, southern France, Italy and on the Balkan Peninsula, as well as in north-western, south-western and western Africa.

Chilo auricilius, the gold-fringed rice stemborer or terai borer, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Gerald C. Dudgeon in 1905. It is found in India, Taiwan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, as well as on Sulawesi, Borneo, Sangir Island and the Moluccas. The larvae bore into and feed on the stems of various grass family plants including sugarcane, rice and maize.

Chilo infuscatellus, the yellow top borer or sugarcane shoot borer, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by the Dutch entomologist Samuel Constantinus Snellen van Vollenhoven in 1890. It is found in India, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and on Java and Timor.

Bissetia steniellus is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was first described by the British entomologist George Hampson in 1899. It is found in India and Vietnam where it is commonly known as the Gurdaspur borer because the larvae bore their way into and feed on the stems of sugarcane.

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.

<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.

Trichogramma japonicum is a minute wasp parasitoid from the Trichogrammatidae family in the order Hymenoptera. T. japonicum parasitizes the eggs of many pest species, especially Lepidoptera found in many monocultures. They are entomophagous parasitoids that deposit their eggs inside the host species' egg, consuming the host egg material and emerging from the egg once development is complete. T. japonicum can be found naturally in rice ecosystems, but are dispersed commercially to many monocultures as a biological control. The mitochondrial genomes of T. japonicum are significantly rearranged when comparing it to related insects.

Sesamia calamistis, the African pink stem borer, is a moth of the family Noctuidae.

References

  1. Savela, Markku. "Sesamia inferens (Walker, 1856)". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  2. "Asiatic pink stem borer". PaDIL. Australian Government Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  3. "Sesamia inferens, The Pink Stemborer". IASZoology.com. 25 November 2006. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  4. "Sesamia inferens (Walker)". Insects in Indian Agroecosystems. ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  5. Hampson, G. F. (1894). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths Volume II. Vol. Moths - Vol. II. Taylor and Francis via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  6. "Sesamia calamistis Hampson, 1910 - African Pink Stalkborer". BioNET-EAFRINET. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  7. Holloway, Jeremy Daniel. "Sesamia inferens Walker". The Moths of Borneo. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Purple stem borer (Sesamia inferens)". Plantwise Knowledge Bank. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  9. "Pink Stem Borer (Sesamia inference): Nature, Life Cycle and Control". YourArticleLibrary. 2014-01-18. Retrieved 4 August 2016.