Pyroderces falcatella (Stainton, 1859)
Cornworm
 (also known as Anatrachyntis falcatella)
COSMOPTERIGINAE,   COSMOPTERIGIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Christian Mille, Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien, New-Caledonia)

This Caterpillar is omnivorous, and has been found feeding on plant materials such as

  • fruit of Hibiscus ( Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, MALVACEAE ), and
  • rotten fruit of Pomegranate ( Punica granatum, LYTHRACEAE ),

    and animals such as

  • Lac Insect Larvae ( Paratachardina lobata, KERRIIDAE ).


    (Photo: courtesy of Christian Mille, Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien, New-Caledonia)

    The adult moths are brown, with some dark-edged white lines on the forewings, and plain hindwings. The hind margins of each wing are fringed with long hairs.


    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The species is found across south-east Asia to the south Pacific, including

  • India, and
  • New Caledonia,

    as well as Australia in

  • Queensland, and
  • New South Wales.

    Further reading :

    P.I. Forster,
    Hibiscus sp. (Malvaceae), a new host for Pectinophora endema Common (Lepidopter: Gelechiidae) and Pyroderces falcatella (Stainton) (Lepidoptera: Cosmoterigidae) and their effects on predispersed seed, Australian Entomological Magazine,
    Volume 18 (1991), p. 125.

    C. S. Misra,
    Anatrachyntis falcatella, stt. (Pyroderces spodoctha, Meyr.),
    Proceedings of the Fourth Entomological Meeting,
    Pusa, 1921, pp. 249-252.

    Henry Tibbats Stainton,
    Descriptions of Twenty-Five Species of Indian Lepidoptera,
    Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
    New Series Volume 5 (1859), p. 121, No. 16.

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    (written 1 February 2003, updated 27 July 2013, 27 April 2022)