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Painted Jezebel
20-May-2007, 07:06 PM
This could be another one for you Roger. I'm sorry, I'm not looking for them, I promise you. This one literally just stared back at me, and I could not miss it. I'm sure you will correct me if I'm wrong, but does this belong to the Notodontidae?

Les

hkmoths
24-May-2007, 11:13 AM
Hi Les,

Not a notodontid, but one of the more striking tropical noctuids.

This is Eudocima phalonia (syn. Othreis fullonia).

Noctuidae, Catocalinae (in the older sense of Noctuidae)

cheers,

Roger.

Painted Jezebel
24-May-2007, 04:11 PM
Thanks very much, Roger. I never would have guessed a Catocalid. The larva seems so different from the ones I'm used to in Europe. The reason I suggested a Notodontid, is that its behaviour seemed closer to the Prominents or Lobster Moth. I've done an internet search, and, yes, it is a very striking moth, extremely widespread too. I take it, from its English name, Fruit Piercing Moth, that it is a pest all over the tropics?

One further question, I had previously come across a similar larva, but it was reddish, as opposed to black, and I can not remember if it had eyespots or not, but the behaviour was the same. A different species or earlier/later instar?

Les

hkmoths
27-May-2007, 01:03 AM
...... I take it, from its English name, Fruit Piercing Moth, that it is a pest all over the tropics?

One further question, I had previously come across a similar larva, but it was reddish, as opposed to black, and I can not remember if it had eyespots or not, but the behaviour was the same. A different species or earlier/later instar?

Les

Hi Les,

The adults are considered a pest in some fruit orchards, where they suck the juice from inside the fruit, which provides a pathway for fungal entry and subsequent spoiling of the fruit.

There are at least three colour forms of the larvae. Definitely polymorphic.

cheers,

Roger.

Painted Jezebel
27-May-2007, 04:17 AM
Ah!:light: Thank you.

Les