Dichomeris acuminatus (Staudinger, 1876)
Alfalfa Leaf Tier
 (one synonym : Ypsolophus ochrophanes Meyrick, 1907)
DICHOMERINAE,   GELECHIIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Dichomeris acuminatus
(Photo: courtesy of Ian McMillan, Imbil, Queensland)

This Caterpiller is a pest in the tropics on crops in the family FABACEAE, including

  • Alfalfa ( Medicago sativa ),
  • Cluster Bean ( Cyamopsis tetragonoloba ),
  • Java Indigo ( Indigofera arrecta ),
  • Pigeon Pea ( Cajanus cajan ),
  • Sharchop ( Codariocalyx gyroides ), and
  • Silky Sesban ( Sesbania sericea ).

    The adult moths have pale brown forewings, with variable dark markings. The wingspan is about 1 cm.

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

    The species has been reported in

  • France,
  • Korea,
  • Madeira, and
  • Majorca,

    as well as in Australia in

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

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

    Further reading :

    Otto Staudinger,
    Beiträge zur Lepidoptera-Fauna Sicilien's,
    Entomologische Zeitung (Stettiner),
    Volume 37 (1876), pp. 148-149.

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    (updated 22 March 2008, 17 October 2018, 4 May 2021)