Diaphania indica
Encyclopedia
- "Cotton caterpillar" redirects here; see also Cotton bollwormCotton bollwormCotton bollworm may refer to:* Helicoverpa zea* Helicoverpa armigera, the American bollworm or tomato grub- See also :* Bollworm...
.
The Cucumber Moth or Cotton Caterpillar (Diaphania indica), is a is a widespread but mainly Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
. It belongs to the grass moth family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
, and therein to the large subfamily Spilomelinae
Spilomelinae
Spilomelinae is a very large subfamily of the lepidopteran family Crambidae, the crambid snout moths. They were formerly included in the Pyraustinae as tribe Spilomelini; furthermore taxonomists' opinions differ as to the correct placement of the Crambidae, some authorities treating them as a...
. This moth occurs in many tropical and subtropical regions ouside the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
, though it is native to southern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
; it is occasionally a significant pest of cucurbits
Cucurbitaceae
The plant family Cucurbitaceae consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds, including crops such as cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...
and some other plants.
This species was originally described by William Wilson Saunders
William Wilson Saunders
William Wilson Saunders was a British insurance broker, entomologist and botanist.Saunders was an underwriter at Lloyd's of London...
in 1851 under the mis-spelled name Eudioptes indica (properly:Eudioptis), using specimens from Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
. His syntype
Syntype
In biological nomenclature, a syntype is a term used to indicate a specimen with a special status.In zoological nomenclature, a syntype is defined as "Each specimen of a type series from which neither a holotype nor a lectotype has been designated [Arts. 72.1.2, 73.2, 74]. The syntypes...
s are in the Hope Entomological Collections of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the...
.
Description
The wingspanWingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is about 30 mm. Adults have translucent whitish wings with broad dark brown borders. The body is whitish below, and brown on top of head and thorax
Thorax (insect anatomy)
The thorax is the mid section of the insect body. It holds the head, legs, wings and abdomen. It is also called mesosoma in other arthropods....
as well as the end of the abdomen. There is a tuft of light brown "hairs" on the tip of the abdomen, vestigial in the male but well-developed in the female. It is formed by long scales which are carried in a pocket on each side of the 7th abdominal segment, from where they can be everted to form the tufts. Unfertilized females are often seen sitting around with the tuft fully spread, forming two flower-like clumps of scales, which move slowly to spread their pheromone
Pheromone
A pheromone is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting outside the body of the secreting individual to impact the behavior of the receiving individual...
s. These have been identified as consisting mainly of (E,E)-10,12-hexadecadienal and (E)-11-hexadecenal.
From its closest relatives, the Cucumber Moth is most reliably distinguished by microscopic
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
examination of the genitals. In the male, the clasper's harpe is twice as long as it is wide, with costa
Costa
Costa may refer to:* Costa , including origin of the name and people sharing the surname* Costa, scientific term, from Latin costa "rib" ** In botany, the central strand of a bryophyte leaf or thallus...
and sacculus running almost in parallel and being strongly sclerotized, and a rounded cucullus. From the center of the harpe, which is otherwise only weakly sclerotized, a thin spine extends. The uncus is covered in bristles and ends in a small tube; it is a bit longer than the tegumen which in turn is about as wide as it is long. The Vinculum is almost quadratic, and the anellus forms a small triangular plate which is more strongly sclerotized. The aedeagus
Aedeagus
An aedeagus is a reproductive organ of male insects through which they secrete sperm from the testes during copulation with a female insect...
is almost straight, strongly sclerotized below, and has a flattened curved process at end.
In the female genitals, the ostium
Ostium
Ostium may refer to:Anatomy*Ostium of Fallopian tube*Ostium primum or foramen ovale of the developing heart*Ostium maxillare of the maxillary sinus*Ostium of female lepidoptera genitalia...
is transverse and oval, and the antrum
Antrum
In biology, antrum is a general term for a cavity or chamber which may have specific meaning in reference to certain organs or sites in the body.In vertebrates, it may mean for example:...
broadly sclerotized. The ductus seminalis insert from above, a bit before the forward edge of the antrum. The bursa copulatrix is long and slim, with the forward third particularly narrow; its wall is covered with many short spines, and the hind end almost seamlessly merges into a short and barely distinguishable ductus bursae.
Distribution and ecology
The natural range of this moth seems to extend from South AsiaSouth Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
to southern China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, and south through Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
top the Maluku Islands
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
; it does not seem to extend south of the Wallacea
Wallacea
Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Timor, Halmahera, Buru, Seram, and...
or to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. Hence, to the other localities where it has been found it was probably introduced by trade and transport of its host plants. These are typically oceanic islands, such as Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Ponape
Ponape
Ponape may refer to:*Pohnpei, an island in the Federated States of Micronesia*Ponape , a German sailing ship...
in the Caroline Islands
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
and the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
in different regions of the Pacific, and Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
in the western Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
. It has been reported from some localities in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, but there it is probably introduced too.
As implied by the common names, the caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e of this moth are a frequent agricultural pests. It is perhaps most noticeable as a pest of cucumber
Cucumber
The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...
s, but this seems more due to the widespread production of these than to the moth's preferences; D. indica is quite polyphagous and prefers other Cucurbitoideae
Cucurbitoideae
The Cucurbitoideae is a subfamily of the Cucurbitaceae, or gourd family, of flowering plants. The Cucurbitaceae are divided into two subfamilies, the Zanonioideae, probably a paraphyletic group of remainders, and the well-supported monophyletic Cucurbitoideae....
(which are not as widely grown though) to cucumbers. Typically, the leaves of the foodplants are eaten.
Host plants are usually eurosids and include:
- CucurbitaceaeCucurbitaceaeThe plant family Cucurbitaceae consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds, including crops such as cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...
- Benincaseae: CalabashCalabashLagenaria siceraria , bottle gourd, opo squash or long melon is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable, or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. For this reason, the calabash is widely known as the bottle gourd...
(Lagenaria siceraria), Angled Luffa (Luffa acutangula), Egyptian Luffa (Luffa aegyptiaca), probably others - CucurbiteaeCucurbiteaeThe Cucurbiteae is a tribe of the Cucurbitaceae subfamily, which is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, or gourd family, of flowering plants.The tribe consists of 13 genera...
: pumpkinPumpkinA pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
s (Cucurbita) - Melothrieae: CucumberCucumberThe cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...
(Cucumis sativus) and others (e.g. melonMelonthumb|200px|Various types of melonsThis list of melons includes members of the plant family Cucurbitaceae with edible, fleshy fruit e.g. gourds or cucurbits. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit...
s) - Trichosantheae: Snake Gourd (Trichosanthes cucumerina var. anguina), Trichosanthes tricuspidata
- Benincaseae: Calabash
- Other families:
- Erythrina corallodendron (FabaceaeFabaceaeThe Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...
) - Levant Cotton (Gossypium herbaceum, MalvaceaeMalvaceaeMalvaceae, or the mallow family, is a family of flowering plants containing over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species. Judd & al. Well known members of this family include okra, jute and cacao...
)
- Erythrina corallodendron (Fabaceae
Taxonomy
Despite its characteristic appearance, the Cucumber Moth was anew described times and again, leading to a number of junior synonyms. Achille GuenéeAchille Guénée
Achille Guenée was a French lawyer and entomologist.-Biography:Achille Guenée was born in Chartres and died in Châteaudun....
described the species three times alone – two times of which on the very same page of the Histoire naturelle des Insectes –, using specimens from far-flung regions he believed to represent different taxa: from Java (for P. gazorialis), Réunion
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
(for his Phakellura curcubitalis), and (presumably) the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
(for P. zygaenalis). Actually, the moth's populations at the latter two locations, as well as the specimens from Limpopo
Limpopo River
The Limpopo River rises in central southern Africa, and flows generally eastwards to the Indian Ocean. It is around long, with a drainage basin in size. Its mean annual discharge is 170 m³/s at its mouth...
and Orange River
Orange River
The Orange River , Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean...
s from which Philipp Christoph Zeller
Philipp Christoph Zeller
Philipp Christoph Zeller was a German entomologist.Zeller was born at Steinheim Württemberg, two miles from Marbach, the birthplace of Schiller. The family moved to Frankfurt where Philip went to the gymnasium where natural history was not taught. Instead, helped by Alois Metzner, he taught...
described his Eudioptis capensis, seem to have been merely introduced there as pests in ships' stores.
In 1859, the Cucumber Moth was moved to genus Phakellura by Francis Walker
Francis Walker (entomologist)
Francis Walker was an English entomologist. He was one of the most prolific authors in entomology, and stirred controversy during his later life as his publications resulted in a huge number of junior synonyms....
, and to Glyphodes
Glyphodes
Glyphodes is a genus of moths of the Crambidae family.-Species:*Glyphodes actorionalis Walker, 1859*Glyphodes agathalis *Glyphodes alboscapulalis *Glyphodes amphipeda...
by Edward Meyrick
Edward Meyrick
Edward Meyrick FRS was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern Microlepidoptera systematics....
in 1895. It was placed in Margaronia by Fletcher in 1917, and by subsequent authors variously assigned it to Diaphania and Glyphodes, at that time incorrectly believed to be subgenera of Margaronia. Finally, in 1931 Hudson, recognizing that Saunders and Walker were quite correct in their original assessments, but that Eudioptis and Phakellura were junior synonyms of Diaphania, placed the moth in its current genus. Shin et al. in 1983 sided with Fletcher and proposed to move the species to Palpita
Palpita
Palpita is a genus of moths of the Crambidae family.-Species:*Palpita aenescentalis Munroe, 1952*Palpita angusta Inoue, 1997*Palpita annulifer Inoue, 1996*Palpita ardealis Palpita is a genus of moths of the Crambidae family.-Species:*Palpita aenescentalis Munroe, 1952*Palpita angusta Inoue,...
(the senior synonym of Margaronia), but subsequent authors have generally preferred Hudson's treatment.
Synonyms
The junior synonyms and some other invalid scientific names of D. indica are:External links
- Diaphania indica on the Australian Government / Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and ForestryDepartment of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Australia)The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is an Australian government department. The Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s role is to develop and implement policies and programs that ensure Australia's agricultural, fisheries, food and forestry industries...
Scientific Names Web site - Australian Insects
- Australian Faunal Directory