Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Diaphania indica (Saunders, 1851)
Eudioptes indica Saunders, 1851
Phakellura indica Walker, 1959
Glyphodes indica Hampson, 1896
Identification
Adult: Wings are white, with a dark brown band along the fringe.
(1)
Larva: pale to dark green with a white stripe running along both sides of the body.
(1) Range
Southern Texas; Florida to Central America.
Food
Caterpillars feed on the leaves, soft stems and fruit of a variety of cucurbits. They can destroy large sections of plants and bind parts of the leaves together with silk and frass. On occasion, the larvae have been known to damage the flowers. After the fruit starts to develop, the larvae can chew shallow holes in the surface, especially where the fruit is in close contact with the ground. They often pupate in these holes, causing blemishes which downgrade the fruit.
(1)Life Cycle
Adult moth lives for 1-2 weeks, during which time the female may lay many eggs on the underside of leaves and on the soft stems of host plants.
(1)
Eggs are creamy white and 1–2 mm long and can take from 1-7 days to hatch.
(1)
Larvae grow to 15 mm long in about 3 weeks, at which time they are ready to pupate.
(1)
Pupae are 10–15 mm long and usually found in the soil, under fruit or debris on the ground, or sometimes in a silken canopy in the leaves.
(1)
Pupation lasts up to 2 weeks before the adult moths emerge.
(1)
See Also
Diaphania hyalinata has abdomen mostly white like
D. indica but lacks entirely white last segment and black border of forewing is narrower.
Diaphania elegans has mostly brown abdominal with first segment white.
Diaphania modialis is like
D. elegans but lacks the all white first abdominal segment.
Diaphania infimalis is like
D. modialis but smaller with black border of forewing is narrower. Per Capps in Kimball (1965)
(2), specimens of
Diaphania modialis have been misidentified as this species which is not found in NA.
Print References
Saunders, W.W. 1851. On Insects injurious to the Cotton Plant.
The Transactions of the Entomological Society of London. (new series) 1:
163Internet References
BOLD Systems - images of pinned DNA supported specimens