Mesophleps palpigera (Walsingham, 1891)
Soybean Webworm
(one synonym : Paraspistes ioloncha Meyrick, 1905)
ANACAMPSINAE,   GELECHIIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Mesophleps palpigera
(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

This Caterpillar is an agricultural pest. It favours eating

  • Soybeans ( Glycine max, FABACEAE ),

    forming a shelter by webbing leaves together.

    Mesophleps palpigera
    (Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

    The adult moths have pale brown forewings with vague dark markings near the wingtips. The hindwings are a uniform grey. The wingspan is about 1.5 cm.

    Mesophleps palpigera
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

    The species has been found in

  • Mozambique,
  • Puerto Rico,
  • Trinidad,
  • USA,

    and also in Australia in

  • Western Australia, and
  • Queensland.

    Mesophleps palpigera
    female, drawing by Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham, listed as Gelechia palpigera,

    African Micro-Lepidoptera, Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 1891, p. 94, Plate 4, fig. 31,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.


    Further reading :

    Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham,
    African Micro-Lepidoptera,
    Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
    1891, p. 94, and also Plate 4, fig. 31.


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    (written 26 March 2014, updated 2 May 2021)