Olepa ricini

Olepa ricini
Dorsal view of an undescribed species close to Olepa ricini
Ventral view of an undescribed species close to Olepa ricini
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Erebidae
Subtribe: Spilosomina
Genus: Olepa
Species: O. ricini
Binomial name
Olepa ricini
(Fabricius, 1775)[1]
Synonyms
  • Pericallia ricini
  • Bombyx ricini Fabricius, 1775
  • Bombyx zerah Stoll, [1782]

Olepa ricini (Darth Maul moth, ) is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is found in India and Sri Lanka. In many countries and local books, the species is still named as Pericallia ricini.[2]

Description

Closely resembled much less distributed Olepa ocellifera, differ only due to lack of chain like small yellow banded black spots in between large spots in fore wings, which present in O. ocellifera.

In The Fauna Of British India Including Ceylon And Burma Moths Vol-ii, Hampson discussed b0th two species in single quote as follows:

"Head and thorax dark greyish brown in color. Collar fringed with crimson and with a pair of pale-ringed black spots. Tegulae with two pairs and vertex of thorax with one similar spot. Abdomen crimson with a series of short dorsal black bands and lateral spots. Fore wings are fuscous brown with very numerous pale-ringed black spots in the interspaces. Hind wing crimson, with ante-medial, medial, post-medial and marginal bands and more or less conjoined blotches. Larva dark brown in body color with white and dorsal and lateral tufts of long dark hair."

—The Fauna Of British India Including Ceylon And Burma Moths Vol-1.[3]

It is a minor pest, where caterpillar hosts on cotton, castor, sunflower, gingelly, maize, ivy gourd, brinjal, sweetpotato, banana, Cucurbita crops.[4]

References

  1. ↑ funet
  2. ↑ A new Olepa species from Israel
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ "Olepa ricini (Fabricius)". ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
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