Stictoptera cucullioides

Stictoptera cucullioides is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found from the Indo-Australian tropics of India, Sri Lanka to the Bismarck Islands and Queensland. It is an introduced species in Hawaii, where it is found on Oahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaii.

Stictoptera cucullioides
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Noctuidae
Genus:
Stictoptera
Species:
S. cucullioides
Binomial name
Stictoptera cucullioides
Guenée, 1852
Synonyms
  • Stictoptera subobliqua (Walker, 1857)
  • Steiria subobliqua Walker, 1857
  • Steiria variabilis Moore, 1882
  • Stictoptera timesia Swinhoe, 1893

Description

In the male, the head and thorax are greyish brown. Abdomen fuscous. Forewings greyish brown with numerous indistinct waved lines. Orbicular and reniform stigmata indistinct, where the latter with a few raised scaled on it. A series of small marginal lunules can be seen. Hindwings opalescent hyaline (glass like), where the veins and broad outer band are fuscous with pale colored cilia.[1]

The larvae is fat, slightly tumid (swollen) at the posterior end and with a berry-shaped swelling over the anterior part of the abdomen and thoracic segments. The head is half the breadth of the body. The skin of the body is smooth, translucent, but the more or less round head is brown to red brown. The body is light whitish green with white lines. Another batch of larvae on the same host (Mesua) were darker, especially the dorsal line which was blackish flanked by broadish dull white lines. A third batch (on Calophyllum) were more purplish in the dark areas but generally similarly marked. The length at maturity is approximately 30 mm and the breadth 5 mm.

Ecology

Larvae have been recorded on Mesua and Calophyllum species (including Calophyllum inophyllum) and have been reared on Garcinia species. Other recorded food plants include Clusia rosea, Garcinia cambogia and Mammea americana.[2]

The larvae tend to be found when their host plant is in flush, especially when the leaves are yellow white to pinkish. The larvae rest fully stretched on the undersides of the tender new leaves. They move actively from place to place. They turn pinkish before pupating, going down to the earth to make a fairly close-fitting dense cocoon of silk incorporating particles of earth and leaf litter near the surface. The pupa is attached lightly by the cremaster inside.

References
  1. Hampson, G. F. (1894). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths Volume II. Taylor and Francis – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  2. Herbison-Evans, Don & Crossley, Stella (10 September 2015). "Stictoptera cucullioides Guenée, 1852". Australian Caterpillars and their Butterflies and Moths. Retrieved 23 July 2018.


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