Cydalima nigropunctalis Bremmer

Taxonomy

The holotype of Margarodes nigropunctalis Bremmer, 1864: 67, pl. 6, fig. 5. is from Eastern Russia (Siberia, Ussuri; (above outlet of Ema river)). comb. n. to Palpita (Kirti & Rose, 1992: 67).

• syn. Margaronia neomera Butler, 1878a: 57, pl. 39 fig. 5 TL Japan, Yokohama. Comb. N. (Inoue, 1955: 176)

Here we treat it in Cydalima, in the Margaronia warrenalis group. MS comb. n.

Description

The Lilac pyralid. The wings are silvery, thin scaled and completely unmarked except for the brown subcosta, a few tiny black spots on the FW costa and indistinct V-shaped marks marking the discal cells, similar to Palpita picticostalis Hampson. Cydalima sp 6 & 7 and C. warrenalis are very similar but have a distinct pale grey submarginal bande on the FW & HW. See Cydalima sp. 2 which is probably this sp.. It is included in the key to Chinese Palpita by Zhang & Li (2005) and included in the key to the spp. of Palpita found in India (Kirti & Rose, 1992: 63-65). [P. warrenalis, P. nigropunctalis, P. palpifulvata, P. annulata, P. pajnii, P. kiminensis, P. unionalis & P. hexcornutialis].

Life History

The seasonal abundance of P. nigropunctalis larvae was studied on five oleaceous tree spp. in Ibaraki, central Japan, for two years. The larval population peaked on some tree spp. in both Spring and Autumn while it peaked on other tree spp. only in Autumn. In bimodal populations, the spring peaks consisted of larvae infesting leaves, while the Autumn peaks consisted of larvae infesting various tree parts (flowers, fruits and leaves). Larval development was longer and pupal weights were lower on Ligustrum lucidum fruits than on L. japonicum fruits (Gotoh et al. 2011).

References

• Bremer, O. (1864) Lepid. Ost-Sib., insbesondere der Amur-Landes, gesammelt von den Herren G. Radde, R. Maack und P. Wulffius. Mém. Acad. Sci. St. Pétersb. (7) 8 (1): 1-104, 8pls. St. Petersberg.
• Inoue, H. (1955) Alucitidae-Epicopeidae. 113–217. In: Check List of the Lepidoptera of Japan, Vol. 2. Rikusuisha, Tokyo,Tokyo.
• Zhang, D.D. & Li, H.H. (2005) A taxonomic study on Palpita Hübner from China (Lepidoptera, Crambidae, Pyraustinae, Spilomelini). Acta Zoo Sinica, 30 (1): 144-149.
• Gotoh, T., Hagino, Y. & Doke, K. (2011) Life cycle of the lilac pyralid Palpita nigropunctalis (Bremer) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) on five oleaceous tree species. J. of Asia-Pacific Ent. (June 2011) 14 (2), 195-200.
• Butler, A.G. (1878a) Illustrations of typical specimens of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the British Museum. Part II: x, 62 pp. Pls. 21-40.
• Kirti, J.S. & Rose, H.S. (1992b) Studies on Indian species of the genus Palpita Hubner (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae: Pyraustinae): J. Ent. Res. 16 (1): 62-77.