A new larval host record for Sphingomorpha
chlorea (Cramer) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from Karnataka, India
Ankita Gupta 1 & Peter Smetacek2
1 National
Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects, Post Bag No. 2491, H.A. Farm Post,
Bellary Road, Hebbal, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560024, India
2 Butterfly
Research Centre, The Retreat, Jones Estate, P.O.
Bhimtal, Nainital, Uttarakhand 263136, India
Email: 1 drankitagupta7@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 petersmetacek@rediffmail.com
Date
of publication (online): 26 February 2011
Date
of publication (print): 26 February 2011
ISSN
0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor:B.A. Daniel
Manuscript
details:
Ms
# o2564
Received
09 September 2010
Final
received 09 December 2010
Finally
accepted 21 December 2010
Citation: Gupta, A. & P. Smetacek (2011). A new larval host record for Sphingomorpha chlorea (Cramer) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from
Karnataka, India. Journal
of Threatened Taxa 3(2):
1553-1554.
Copyright: © Ankita Gupta & Peter Smetacek
2011. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit
purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the
authors and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements:The first author is grateful to
Dr. R.J. Rabindra, Director, NBAII, Bengaluru for
providing the necessary facilities for carrying out this research work.
Sphingomorpha
chlorea (Cramer, 1777) is a widespread noctuid, known to occur over
most of the mainland Old World Tropics. It belongs to a group of moths that are known to indulge in the habit of
fruit piercing, a practice that causes considerable damage to orchards in
Southeast Asia and Africa. In
addition to its fondness for fruit on the tree, it is also attracted to
fermented fruit, beer, spirits and other sources of sugars. As a result, it is called the Sundowner
Moth and the Banana Hawk in parts of Africa.
The moth is of minor importance to
agriculture on account of its abovementioned habits. Besides this, the larva is eaten in many parts of its
African range. Unlike other edible
larvae, it is not an article of commerce since it loses flavour when it is
dried. Hence, it is eaten fresh in
rural areas where it occurs in large numbers in some years (Silow 1976). Although the possibility exists that
this moth’s larva forms a part of the diet of humans in parts of Asia where
lepidopteran larvae are routinely consumed, it has not been reported in the
literature so far.
Materials and
Methods
In the course of searching for egg and larval parasites of
Lepidoptera in the forest of Savandurga, Karnataka (12055’10.75”N & 77017’34.37”E) a fleshy green caterpillar was
discovered feeding on Lantana
camara Linnaeus
(Verbenaceae) on 07 June 2010 (Image 1). It was collected and reared in the laboratory where,
in due course it pupated (Image 2) and on 15 July 2010, a noctuid moth emerged. It was identified as Sphingomorpha chlorea (Cramer) (Image 3). The specimen is in the collection of
National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects, Bangalore (Reg.No.
Lep/Sph/ch-6/10).
Perusal of the literature (Sevastopulo 1941; Sevastopulo
1949; Robinson et al. 2001) clarified that this was an unreported host plant
for the moth. Hence, it is
reported here.
Discussion
This species is widespread and common in tropical Africa,
whereas it is more local and rarer in Asia. Therefore, the economic importance may
be different in the two continents. The distribution in the southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula
indicates a more or less coherent distribution over these two continents. It is unlikely that Sphingomorpha chlorea was introduced in Asia quite recently,
as a closely related species occurs in Java (Sphingomorpha hemia).
Sphingomorpha chlorea has been recorded on four different
larval host plants in the Oriental Region. These are Sclerocarya
caffra(Anacardiaceae), Acacia (Leguminosae), Malus pumila (Rosaceae) and Citrus (Rutaceae) (Robinson et al.
2001). The present record thus not
only adds a new larval host plant species, but also represents an addition to
the known plant families that this species feeds upon, Verbenaceae.
The adaptation of this moth to an exotic plant like Lantana camara, which is a native of tropical America
(Polunin & Stainton 1984) is of interest, since L. camara is now a widespread naturalized plant
in India. It occurs in many places
from where S.
chlorea (Cramer)has not been
reported, like the plains of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh,
etc. It remains to be seen whether
the moth spreads to the above mentioned sub-tropical
localities in the years to come or whether it is indeed restricted to the
tropics by other factors, perhaps climatic.
REFERENCES
Polunin, O. & A. Stainton
(1984). Flowers
of the Himalaya. Oxford
University Press, Delhi, 579pp+128pl.
Robinson,
G.S., P.R. Ackery, I.J. Kitching, G.W. Beccaloni & L. Hernandez (2001). Hostplants
of the Moth and Butterfly Caterpillars of the Oriental Region. The Natural History
Museum and Southdene Sdn Bhd., London and Kuala Lumpur, 744pp.
Sevastopulo,
D.G. (1941). On
the food-plants of Indian Agaristidae and Noctuidae (Heterocera). Journal
of the Bombay Natural History Society42: 421-430.
Sevastopulo,
D.G. (1949). A supplementary list of the food-plants of the Indian Bombycidae,
Agaristidae and Noctuidae. Journal
of the Bombay Natural History Society 48:
265-276.
Silow,
C.A. (1976). Edible and Other Insects of Mid-western Zambia. Studies in Ethno-entomology II. Occasional Papers V. Institutionen för Allmän och Jämförande
Etnografi vis, Uppssala Universitet. Uppsala, Sweden:Almqvist & Wiksell, 223pp.