Herpetogramma hipponalis (Walker, 1859)
Green Leaf Folder
(one synonym : Botys pigresalis Walker, 1859)
SPILOMELINAE,   CRAMBIDAE,   PYRALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


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

The caterpillar of this species is green with black marks on the thorax. The caterpillars are a pest on:

  • Sweet Potato ( Ipomoea batatas, CONVOLVULACEAE ).

    Later instar caterpillars shelter in a folded leaf held closed with silk.


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

    The adult moth is yellow with dark brown zig-zag lines across the wings. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

    The eggs are laid sometimes in groups and sometimes single. They are laid on the upper surface of a foodplant leaf near the central vein. One female moth can lay up to 300 eggs over a few days.


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

    The species is found over south-east Asia, including:

  • China,
  • Keeling Islands
  • New Guinea,

    and in Australia in

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory, and
  • Queensland.


    Keeling Islands, 1982


    Further reading :

    Francis Walker,
    Pyralides,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 17 (1859), p. 374, No. 25.


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    (updated 16 March 2008, 27 January 2013, 19 July 2019, 3 December 2020)