Eudocima cocalus

Eudocima cocalus (Cramer, 1777)
Cocalus Fruit Piercing Moth
(formerly known as Phalaena cocalus)
CALPINAE, EREBIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Eudocima cocalus
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)

This Caterpillar is patchy brown in colour, with a complex set of markings.

(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)

It has two fake eyes on each side of the abdomen. It only has three pairs of prolegs.

threat display
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)

It has a threat display of lifting the front half of the body and the last third up in the air.

head close-up
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)

It has been found feeding on various plants in MENISPERMACEAE, such as

Marathi (Anamirta cocculus), and

Snake vine (Tinospora smilacina).

pupa
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)

The caterpillar grows to a length of about 6.5 cms. The pupa is dark brown with a length of about 3 cms. The pupa is formed in loosely constructed cocoon in leaf litter.

female, enjoying some Harpullia fruit
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)

The female adult moths of this species have forewings that are dark brown with several white spots. The hindwings are yellow with a broad black margin.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

The male moths have patchy brown forewings with no white spots, but the hindwings are orange with a broad black margin. For both sexes, each forewing has a hooked wingtip, and a concave hind margin. The head and thorax are dark brown, but the abdomen is bright orange. The wingspan is about 6 cms.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

The species has been found in :

and in Australia in

Both sexes of the adult moths are pests in Lychee and Carambola orchards. The moths pierce the fruit to suck the juice, thereby damaging the fruit and allowing the ingress of fungal spores and bacteria.

male, drawing by Pieter Cramer, listed as Phalaena cocalus,
Uitlandsche kapellen voorkomende in de drie waereld-deelen,
Amsterdam Baalde, Volume 2 (1777), Plate CXXXIV, fig. B,
Image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

Various systems have been proposed for controlling the pest including:

the wasp Euplectrus melanocephalus ( EULOPHIDAE ), and

surface spray with Mineral Oil,

using Pheromone Traps.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)