It bores into the stems of of this plant in order to feed. The plant is a pest weed in many equatorial countries.

(Photo: courtesy of Quentin Paynter and Grant Flanagan)

The adult moths look remarkably like wasps, but have a wider connection between the thorax and abdomen. The moths have transparent wings each with abroad black margin. The bodies are black, with a pair of dorsolateral white stripes on the thorax and three transverse white bands on the abdomen. The pheromones of this species have been identified.

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

The species is endemic to Central America, including

and was introduced to control outbreaks of Mimosa pigra into

and into Australia (1989) where it now occurs in

Further reading :

Thomas D. Eichlin & Steven Clifford Passoa,
A new clearwing moth (Sesiidae), from central America: a stem borer in Mimosa pigra,
Journal of the Lepidopterists Society,
Volume 37, Part 3 (1983), pp 193-206.

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(updated 15 March 2002, 20 January 2014)