Polydesma boarmoides
Encyclopedia
Polydesma boarmoides is a moth
of the Noctuidae
family. It is found from the Indo-Australian tropics east to Australia
, Fiji
and New Caledonia
. It has also been recorded from the Marianas, Carolines, Society Islands
and Hawaii
.
The larvae, characterized by Sevastapulo for the "dark brown head with a pale, inverted V-mark", feed on the bark and foliage of Acacia
, Albizia
and Pithecellobium
species. The body of the moth has a creamy ground liberally mottled with streaks and dots of both dark and pale brown.
Pupation takes place in a cocoon made of white silk resembling paper.
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...
of the Noctuidae
Noctuidae
The Noctuidae or owlet moths are a family of robustly-built moths that includes more than 35,000 known species out of possibly 100,000 total, in more than 4,200 genera. They constitute the largest family in the Lepidoptera....
family. It is found from the Indo-Australian tropics east to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, 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...
and New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
. It has also been recorded from the Marianas, Carolines, Society Islands
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
and Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
.
The larvae, characterized by Sevastapulo for the "dark brown head with a pale, inverted V-mark", feed on the bark and foliage of Acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
, Albizia
Albizia
Albizia is a genus of about 150 species of mostly fast-growing subtropical and tropical trees and shrubs in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the legume family, Fabaceae. The genus is pantropical, occurring in Asia, Africa, Madagascar, Central, South, and southern North America and Australia, but mostly...
and Pithecellobium
Pithecellobium
Pithecellobium is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek words πιθηκος , meaning "ape" or "monkey," and ελλοβιον , meaning "earring," which refers to the coiled shape of the seedpods.Delimitation to the closely related Albizia is a matter...
species. The body of the moth has a creamy ground liberally mottled with streaks and dots of both dark and pale brown.
Pupation takes place in a cocoon made of white silk resembling paper.