drawing by Lord Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham, listed as Cryptophlebia carpophaga,
Description of two new species of Tineina from Bengal,
Indian Museum Notes, Volume IV, Number 3 (1899), Plate 7, fig. 1,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library,
digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.
This Caterpillar is a pest on a variety of cultivated trees,
such as:
Macadamia ( Macadamia integrifolia,
PROTEACEAE ),
Lychee ( Litchi chinensis,
SAPINDACEAE )
Orchid Trees ( Bauhinia species,
CAESALPINIACEAE ),
Barbados Pride ( Caesalpinia pulcherrima,
CAESALPINIACEAE ),
Poinciana ( Delonix regia,
CAESALPINIACEAE ),
Tamarind ( Tamarindus indica,
CAESALPINIACEAE ), and
various
Wattles ( Acacia species,
MIMOSACEAE ).
drawing by Lord Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham, listed as Cryptophlebia carpophaga,
Description of two new species of Tineina from Bengal,
Indian Museum Notes, Volume IV, Number 3 (1899), Plate 7, fig. 1d,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library,
digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.
The caterpillars penetrate the young fruit,
and feed on the kernel inside.
They pupate inside the seed pod.
The pupal skin is left sticking out of the pod
when the adult moth emerges and flies away.
female, listed as Oxysemaphora species
(Photo: courtesy of
Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)
The adult moths have brown forewings,
each with a large variable triangular dark wingtip.
The females also have a pale-edged brown triangular mark on the
hind margin of each forewing,
where the males have a more complex mark.
male
(Photo: courtesy of
Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)
The males also have erectable scales behind the
thorax.
The hindwings are pale brown,
and each has a recurve in the
margin.
The wingspan is about 2 cms.
The moths are active in the summer months.
female, drawing by Lord Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham, listed as Cryptophlebia carpophaga,
Description of two new species of Tineina from Bengal,
Indian Museum Notes, Volume IV, Number 3 (1899), Plate 7, fig. 1c,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library,
digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.
The eggs of this species are white, round and flat,
and have a diameter of about 1 mm.
They are laid in small groups, up to 15, on the fruit.
male, drawing by Lord Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham, listed as Cryptophlebia carpophaga,
Description of two new species of Tineina from Bengal,
Indian Museum Notes, Volume IV, Number 3 (1899), Plate 7, fig. 1b,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library,
digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.
The pheromones of
this species have been identified.
Various methods of control have been proposed, including:
Destroying fallen fruit,
Hot Water,
Irradiation,
Insecticides,
Egg parasite
Trichogramma cryptophlebiae (
TRICHOGRAMMATIDAE ),
Larval parasitoid
Brachymeria pomonae (
CHALCIDIDAE ),
Larval parasitoid Brachon species (
BRACONIDAE ), and
Larval parasitoid Gotro bimaculata (
ICHNEUMONIDAE ).
The species occurs across south-east Asia and the south Pacific, including
Hawaii,
Hong Kong,
India,
Singapore,
Vietnam,
and in Australia, including:
Western Australia,
Northern Territory,
Queensland,
Norfolk Island, and
New South Wales.
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 28.8, pp. 58-59, 68, 280.
Marianne Horak and Furumi Komai,
Olethreutine Moths of Australia: (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae),
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Series, Volume 10,
CSIRO Publishing, 2006.
Oswald B. Lower,
New Australian Lepidoptera: with a note on Deilephila livornica, Esp.,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 23 (1898), pp. 48-49.
Lord Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham,
Description of two new species of Tineina from Bengal,
Indian Museum Notes,
Volume IV, Number 3 (1899), pp. 105-107, and also
Plate 7, fig. 1.
(updated 9 October 2012, 2 December 2014, 12 September 2020, 21 April 2022)
