Eudocima aurantia

Fruit-sucking moth
Female dorsal view
Male dorsal view
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Erebidae
Tribe: Ophiderini
Genus: Eudocima
Species: E. aurantia
Binomial name
Eudocima aurantia
(Moore, 1877)
Synonyms
  • Ophideres aurantia Moore, 1877
  • Adris rutilus Moore, 1881
  • Khadira aurantia Moore; Holloway, 1976

Eudocima aurantia, known as fruit-sucking moth,[1] is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is found across south-east Asia, from Sri-Lanka to northern Queensland, Australia. It is also present on the Andamans.

Female ventral view
Male ventral view

Description

The wingspan is about 90–120 mm. Palpi with third joint long and spatulate at extremity. Fore wings with produced apex to a rounded lobe. Head and thorax ferrous colored, with plum-color suffusion. Abdomen orange. Fore wing ferrous with dark stria and slight purple bloom. The veins speckled with blue. Reniform green and indistinct. There is a dark line runs from apex to center of inner margin, sometimes with green patches beyond it. Hind wings orange with a large black lunule beyond lower angle of cell. A submarginal patch can be seen between veins 1 and 2. Ventral side orange. Fore wings with black mark below angle of cell and beyond the cell between veins 3 and 5. Hind wings with lunule and patch of upperside.[2]

Ecology

Larva has pinkish grey dorsal surface suffused darker to a V-shaped yellow band. It has black spiracles and marbled white-ringed rufous-orange ocellate marks with three ferrous lines crossing them. The larvae feed on Cocculus species. The adults are a pest on various fruits. They pierce the fruit in order to suck the juice.[3]

Adults and caterpillars both harm fruits, by piercing, sucking juice and eating flesh. Fruits may show pre-mature fall due to the attack. Parasitoids such as Telenomus lucullus and Euplectrus melanocephalus used as controlling measures.[4]

References

  1. ↑ http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:2c8cb215-5d63-42d2-b59f-62638ff69d38
  2. ↑ Hampson G. F. (1892). "The Fauna Of British India Including Ceylon And Burma Moths Vol-ii". Digital Library of India. p. 558. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  3. ↑ "Eudocima [Khadira] aurantia Moore". The Moths of Borneo. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  4. ↑ "Fruit Sucking Moth". Butterfly House. Retrieved 18 August 2016.


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