Elophila turbata

Elophila turbata is a moth in the family Crambidae found in Africa and Asia. It was first described by the English entomologist Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1881 from a specimen found in Yokohama, Japan.[1][2]

Elophila turbata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Crambidae
Genus:
Elophila
Species:
E. turbata
Binomial name
Elophila turbata
(Butler, 1881)
Synonyms

Description

The ground colour of the forewings is yellowish fulvous for males and dark brownish for females. Adults have been recorded on wing from May to October in Japan.

The larvae feed on common duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza), floating fern (Salvinia natans), Trapa japonica and Lemna perpusilla.[3] Young larvae mine the leaves of their host plant while older larvae create a portable case of leaf material and feed externally. Full-grown larvae reach a length of 15–20 mm and have a greyish-white body.[4]

Predators and parasites

The tiny parasitoid godzilla wasp (Microgaster godzilla) dive in ponds to hunt aquatic larvae, laying their eggs inside the bodies of other insects. In the case of Elophila turbata the wasp hunt the older larvae living in cases near the water's surface. The wasp larvae hatch and eat their host from the inside out.[5]

Distribution

'Elophila turbata is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Yakushima, Amami islands, the Ryukyus) and the Russian Far East (Amur, Ussuri).[2]

References
  1. "GlobIZ search". Global Information System on Pyraloidea. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  2. De Prins, J.; De Prins, W. (2017). "Elophila turbata (Butler, 1881)>". Afromoths. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  3. "An Aquatic Moths, Elophila turbata (Butler, 1881) (Lepidoptera, Crambidae, Nymphulinae) in Korea, with New Host Plants". Archived from the original on 2014-07-25. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
  4. Yoshiyasu, Y. 1985: A systematic study of the Nymphulinae and the Musotiminae of Japan (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Scientific Reports of the Kyoto Prefectural University Agriculture, Kyoto 37: 1–162. Abstract and full article: .
  5. Buehler, Jake (21 November 2020). "Godzilla wasps are water-loving terrors". New Scientist. No. 3309. p. 22.


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