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Species Melitara prodenialis - Hodges#5970

New Pupa - Melitara prodenialis Unidentified Crambid Snout Moth - Melitara prodenialis unid. moth - Melitara prodenialis Hodges#5970 - Melitara prodenialis - female Phycitini - Melitara prodenialis Melitara prodenialis Eastern Pricklypear Borer Moth - Melitara prodenialis Hodges#5970 - Melitara prodenialis
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Pyraloidea (Pyralid and Crambid Snout Moths)
Family Pyralidae (Pyralid Moths)
Subfamily Phycitinae
Tribe Phycitini
No Taxon (Cactus-Feeding Group)
Genus Melitara (Pricklypear Borer)
Species prodenialis (Melitara prodenialis - Hodges#5970)
Hodges Number
5970
Other Common Names
Eastern Pricklypear Borer
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Melitara prodenialis Walker, 1863
original combination Melitara prodenialis Walker, 1863
synonym Zophodia bollii Zeller, 1872
* phylogenetic sequence #177750
Identification
Larvae - Head yellowish brown, darker reddish brown to black near mouthparts and near stemmata. Body dark bluish to bluish black. Early, unpigmented instars of M. prodenialis usually have a dark reddish brown head, whereas those of Cactobrosis cactorum have a black head
Range
se US (TX-FL-MD-KS) - Map (MPG), most common along the southeastern coastal plain (Neunzig, 1997).
Food
Opuntia humifusa var. ammophila (Small), O. humifusa var. austrina (Small), O. macrorhiza Engelmann, O. pusilla (Haworth), O. dillenii (Ker-Gawler), and O. sticta (Haworth) (Neunzig, 1997).
Life Cycle
Eggs are deposited in the form of an egg-stick, and each a female deposites an average of two eggsticks, each composed of about 30 eggs. Larvae are gregarious within the cladode, and may feed in several clododes to complete development. In Arkansas larvae overwinter as 1st-3rd instars (Carleton and Kring, 1994). Pupation occurs in a silken cocoon on the surface of the soil under a dead cladode or other debris. The species has two generations annually throughout most of its range, but has three generations annually in Florida. In Arkansas flight periods of adults are June-July and September-October (Carleton & Kring, 1994).
See Also
Melitara prodenialis can be differentiated from other species of the genus by having a porrect antenna (rather than weakly ascending), the terminal area of the forewing lacking a series of short black, longitudinal lines, and the postmedial line of the forewing shallowly angulate (rather than deeply angulate).
Print References
Mann, John (1969) Cactus-Feeding Insects and Mites; USNM Bull. 256, p.30
Carlton. C.E. & Kring, T.J. (1994) Melitara prodenialis Walker on prickly pear in Arkansas; Southwest Ent., 19(1): 23-31.