Sphingomorpha chlorea

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Sundowner moth
Sundowner moth (Sphingomorpha chlorea) male.jpg
in Sri Lanka
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Erebidae
Genus:
Sphingomorpha
Species:
S. chlorea
Binomial name
Sphingomorpha chlorea
(Cramer, 1777)

Sphingomorpha chlorea, the sundowner moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae that is native to Africa and southern Asia. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1777. It is a fruit-piercing moth and a notorious pest in orchards. [1] The fruit is pierced while performing a vertical and rhythmic movement of the head. [2]

Contents

Description

Its wingspan is about 60–84 mm. Head ochreous white, the basal joint of palpi dark brown. Thorax dark brown above with a broad ochreous-white stripe on vertex. Abdomen dark brown above, with a series of dorsal ochreous-white spots. Forewings reddish-brown with dark stria. There is a pale patch at base of inner margin and an indistinct antemedial angulate line. An irregularly waved medial line with pale outer edge and sometimes tinged with purple and rufous. Some vinous patches beyond it. Reniform is a narrow lunule with a vinous dash beyond it. There is a crenulate postmedial line found with medial black lunules on it and one towards inner margin, and joined by a crenulate line from near apex. A marginal black specks series also present. Hindwings are fuscous brown where the base and a diffused medial irregular band are pale. An ochreous patch with black striæ on it at center of outer margin. Cilia pale. Ventral side pale with fuscous submarginal band towards inner margin of each wing. [3]

Ecology

The adults are attracted to fermented fruit and alcoholic drinks. Its larval food plants include Acacia karoo , Thespesia garckeana , Newtonia buchananii , Sclerocarya birrea , Acacia xanthophloea , Acacia hirtella , Sclerocarya caffra , Burkea africana , Acacia tortilis , Citrus , Malus pumila , Pisum sativum , Thespesia . [4] [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Sphingomorpha</i> Genus of moths

Sphingomorpha is a genus of moths of the family Erebidae first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. Some species, such as Sphingomorpha chlorea, are notorious pests in orchards, and are known as fruitsucking or fruit-piercing moths.

<i>Hulodes caranea</i> Species of moth

Hulodes caranea is a species of moth of the family Erebidae first described by Pieter Cramer in 1780. It is found from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Java, Hong Kong to Queensland and New Guinea, it is also found on the Marianas and Carolines.

<i>Grammodes stolida</i> Species of moth

Grammodes stolida, the geometrician, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. It is found in Africa, southern Europe, most of Asia and Australia. It migrates to central and northern Europe as far north as England, Denmark and Finland.

<i>Arcte coerula</i> Species of moth

Arcte coerula, the ramie moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It is found from in south-east Asia, including Fiji, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Japan, New Guinea, Taiwan and Norfolk Island. It has been recently observed in Hawaii, on the island of Maui.

<i>Ercheia cyllaria</i> Species of moth

Ercheia cyllaria is a species of moth of the family Erebidae first described by Pieter Cramer in 1779. It is found in the Indian subregion, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Japan, Indochina, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Seram and the Kai Islands.

<i>Eudocima salaminia</i> Species of moth

Eudocima salaminia, the green fruit-piercing moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1777. It is found from India, and across south-east Asia to the Pacific Islands. In Australia it occurs in the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. The adult is a fruit piercer.

<i>Ambulyx substrigilis</i> Species of moth

Ambulyx substrigilis, the dark-based gliding hawkmoth, is a species of moth of the family Sphingidae. It was described by John O. Westwood in 1847.

<i>Ischyja manlia</i> Species of moth

Ischyja manlia is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae first described by Pieter Cramer in 1776. It is found in the Indian subregion, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Okinawa, Sundaland, Sulawesi, Korea, the southern Moluccas, Australia (Queensland) and Palau. Adults pierce the skin of fruit to suck the juice.

<i>Oraesia emarginata</i> Species of moth

Oraesia emarginata is a species of moth of the family Erebidae first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1794. It is found in Australia, New Caledonia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Pakistan, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea and Nepal as well as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, the Gambia, Uganda, Oman and Yemen.

<i>Ericeia inangulata</i> Species of moth

Ericeia inangulata, the sober tabby, is a moth in the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It is found in the Indo-Australian tropics of China, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and the Marianas and Carolines, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Samoa.

<i>Serrodes partita</i> Species of moth

Serrodes partita, the catapult moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. It is found in western, eastern, central and southern Africa, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

<i>Spirama retorta</i> Species of moth

Spirama retorta, the Indian owlet-moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1764. It is found in China, Korea, Japan (Honshu), India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Philippines (Luzon), Indonesia ,Japan.

<i>Scopula fibulata</i> Species of geometer moth in subfamily Sterrhinae

Scopula fibulata is a moth of the family Geometridae first described by Achille Guenée in 1858. It is found in Kenya, Sri Lanka and China.

<i>Phazaca theclata</i> Species of moth

Phazaca theclata, the cotton leaf roller, is a moth of the family Uraniidae. It was first described by Achille Guenée in 1858. It is known from Africa south of the Sahara, from Saudi Arabia, as well as from India, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Racotis boarmiaria is a species of moth of the family Geometridae described by Achille Guenée in 1857. It is found in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Myanmar, China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Bhutan and Malaysia.

<i>Lophocampa modesta</i> Species of moth

Lophocampa modesta is a moth of the family Erebidae. It was described by William Forsell Kirby in 1892. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, Suriname, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela.

<i>Hypopyra vespertilio</i> Species of moth

Hypopyra vespertilio is a moth of the family Erebidae first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1787. It is found in China, Korea, Honshu in Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi.

<i>Spirama indenta</i> Species of moth

Spirama indenta is a species of moth of the family Erebidae first described by George Hampson in 1891. It is found from the Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya and from Sri Lanka to Java in Indonesia. In older texts, the species was classified as a morph of Spirama retorta.

Syllepte lygropialis is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by West in 1931. It is found in the Philippines (Luzon).

Ebbepterote is a monotypic moth genus in the family Eupterotidae. It was erected by Rolf G. Oberprieler, Wolfgang A. Nässig and Edward David Edwards in 2003. Its only species, Ebbepterote expansa, was described by Thomas Pennington Lucas in 1891. It is found in Australia, where it has been recorded from Queensland.

References

  1. ↑ Walter Reuther (1989). The Citrus Industry: Crop Protection, Postharvest Technology, and Early History of Citrus Research in California. UCANR Publications. pp. 64–. ISBN   978-0-931876-87-5.
  2. ↑ Bänziger, H. (1970). "The piercing mechanism of the fruit-piercing moth Calpe [Calyptra] thalictri Bkh. (Noctuidae) with reference to the skin-piercing blood-sucking moth C. eustrigata Hmps". Acta Tropica. 27 (1): 54–88. PMID   4393029.
  3. ↑ Hampson, G. F. (1894). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths Volume II. Taylor and Francis – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  4. ↑ "Sundowner Moth". African Moths. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  5. ↑ Hyde, Mark; et al. "Sphingomorpha chlorea". Flora of Zimbabwe. Retrieved 8 May 2016.


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