Dudua aprobola (Meyrick, 1886)
(possible synonym : Temnolopa metallota Lower, 1901)
OLETHREUTINI,   OLETHREUTINAE,   TORTRICIDAE,   TORTRICOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

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

This caterpillar is a translucent yellowish green. except for the first two pairs of legs which are black. It lives in a silk shelter in a curled leaf or flower of a foodplant. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 2 cms. It feeds on the flowers and leaves of a variety of agricultural crops and garden plants, including:

  • Cashew ( Anacardium occidentale, ANACARDIACEAE ),
  • Mango ( Mangifera indica, ANACARDIACEAE ),
  • Lychee ( Nephelium litchi, SAPINDACEAE ),
  • Guava ( Psidium guajava, MYRTACEAE ),
  • Roses ( Rosa, ROSACEAE ),
  • Lantana ( Lantana camara, VERBENACEAE ),
  • Dahlia ( Dahlia, ASTERACEAE ),
  • Mast Tree ( Polyalthia longifolia, ANNONACEAE ), and
  • Queens Flower ( Lagerstroemia flos-reginae, LYTHRACEAE ).

    The brown pupa is formed in a cocoon in a curled leaf.

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

    The adult moth has forewings that are pale brown with various dark markings. The hindwings are plain brown. The moth has a crest of dark scales on the thorax. The wingspan is about 1.5 cms.

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

    The eggs are laid between veins on the undersides of leaves of a foodplant.

    Dudua aprobola
    Tuvalu, 1980

    The species occurs across south-east Asia and the south Pacific, including

  • Cook Islands,
  • Hong Kong,
  • India,
  • New Guinea,

    as well as in Australia in:

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland, AND
  • New South Wales.


    Further reading:

    Marianne Horak and Furumi Komai,
    Olethreutine Moths of Australia: (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae),
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Series, Volume 10,
    CSIRO Publishing, 2006.

    Edward Meyrick,
    Descriptions of Lepidoptera from the South Pacific,
    Transactions of The Entomological Society of London,
    1886, p. 275, No. 145.


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    (updated 26 July 2012, 16 November 2020)