Chilo auricilia Dudgeon
- Family: Crambidae
- Subfamily: Crambinae
- Tribe: Chiloini
- Genus: Chilo
- Distribution: Pakistan, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, India (all states), Bangladesh, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, W.
- Habitat: Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak, Indonesia (Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi), PNG, Philippines, China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong), Taiwan.
- Wing Length: 8mm
Taxonomy
The holotype of Chilo auricilia, Dudgeon 1905: 405 is from India (Burogah, N. Bihar).
Description
There is slight sexual dimorphism. In the male the FW is a pale ochreous brown with paler veins which are slightly raised giving the wings a pleated appearance. There are darker brown specked interneural areas and neural dots at the termen. The FW also has curving sub-termenal line with golden metallic scales and a diffuse golden brown median fascia. The HW is pale with slightly darker veins. The female is similar but less distinctly marked. All members of this genus have large and prominent palpi.
Life History
This is the ‘gold-fringed rice borer’. The internal feeding larvae attack all stages of sugar cane and rice. Kapur (1964) considered its exact identification as a rice stem borer was in doubt, although it was undoubtedly a pest of sugar cane in India; The Sugarcane Early Shoot Borer.
References
- Dudgeon, (1905) Descriptions of new species of moths from India & Burma. J. Bomb. natur. Hist. Soc. 16 (3): 399-405.
- Hsiau Yve Wang & Spiedel, W. (2000) Guide to the Insects in Taiwan. Pyraloidea (Pyralidae, Crambidae), Shu Shin Books, Taipei, Taiwan: 84, fig.