Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Thyrididae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Subfamily Striglininae | |
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Similar Dysodia, Thyrididae, Hyblaea, Hyblaeidae, Manilkara | ||
The sapodilla borer, (Banisia myrsusalis), also known as sapota midrib folder, is a species of moth of the Thyrididae family. It is found in North America, Brazil, Australia, southern Asia (India, Sri Lanka) and Africa (Madagascar, South Africa).
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Description
The wingspan is about 2 cm. Palpi with the third joint of moderate length. Antennae nearly simple in both sexes. Outer margin of both wings nearly evenly curved. Body greyish brown, where some specimens with a slight red or pink tinge. Wings are somewhat lineally striated with dark brown. Fore wings with the costa yellow. Cilia fuscous on fore wing and white on hind wing. Ventral side is silvery grey where striae are prominent and chestnut brown in color. Fore wings with two brownish postmedial and one sub-apical patch.
Ecology
A host plant of this species is sapodilla (Manilkara zapota), a Sapotaceae. Total life cycle of a male and a female is experimentally proved about 40.8 – 3.97 and 45.35 – 4.08 days, respectively.