Cnaphalocrocis medinalis Guenée

Taxonomy

The female holotype of Salbia medinalis [ssp. medinalis] Guenée 1854: 201 is from from ‘Indes orientales?’. It is in the BMNH.

• syn. Botys nurscialis Walker, 1859d: 724-725 from Australia (Moreton Bay). Infra sp., as a ssp (LepIndex, Globiz) is in the BMNH [genitalia slide #6374];
• syn? Botys fasciculatalis Walker, (1865 [1866]: 1431 from New Guinea is in the U.M. Oxford. It is 'probably a ssp of medinalis (genitalia diferences miniscule)' (Bradley, 1981);
• syn. Marasmia carstensziana Rothchild, 1915: 129. TL Irian Jaya, (Snow Mountains) is in the BMNH. comb. n. as a ssp of C. medinalis (Munroe, 1991);
• syn. Botys iolialis Walker 1859d: 666 TL Hong Kong. The TS of Cnaphalocrocis Lederer, 1863c: 384) designated by Klima 1937a: 60 (as syn. in LepIndex). The female type of C. iolialis was recognised as as a junior subjective syn. of C. rutialis Walker 1859: 665 by Lederer 1863: 385 (see also Meyrick 1884b: 304);
• syn. Cnaphalocrocis jolinalis Lederer 1863: 385 misspell.;
• syn. Cnaphalocrocis jolealis Lederer 1863: 385, Pl. 12, Fig. 7 misspell.
• ?syn. Botys rutilalis Walker, 1859d: 665 TL Ceylon (Swinhoe 1890: 272); This syn. should be re-verified as some differences in fasciation are present. We provisionally treat this as a good sp. (See C. rutialis).

Cnaphalocrocis acerrimalis Walker, (1865 [1866]: 1449-1450) (TL Java) is very similar but not proven syn.

Description

A coppery yellow and brown sp. Wingspan 15-18mm. FW with straight transverse submedian and postmedian purplish-brown lines angled from the costa. Common near cultivated ground. Note the tuft of scales halfway along the FW costa of the males. The patterning is simpler and the lineation is much straighter and more easily distinguished from most other Cnaphalocrocis spp.. C. rutilalis (Walker, 1859d: 665) is very similar but has the FW submedian line angled towards the body as it reaches the costa and the post median line is practically straight.

Life History

A serious leaf roller pest of Oryza sativa (Rice) (Conway & Tay, 1968, Common 1990, Bainbrigge-fletcher, 1914). Barrion & Litsinger (1980) noted natural predation of the larvae by ants. Parasitic Hymenoptera: Ichneumonoidea Scenocharps uchita and S. sinui are reported as parasitic on this pest species in India by Suheer & Narendran (2005). Some varieties of rice are more resistant to attack (Pathak et al., 1994).

References

• Guenée, A. (1854) Deltoïdes et pyralites. In Boisduval, J.A. & Guenée, A., Hist. nat. des Insectes (Spec. gén. Lépid.) Vol. 8, 448pp. + 10 pls., Librarie Encyclopédique de Roret: Paris.
• Walker (1865 [1866 Jan 13]) List Spec Lepid. Ins. Coll. B. M., Cat. Lepid. Heterocera. 34, (Suppl. 4): 1121-1533.
• Meyrick, E. (1884b) XV On the classification of the Australian Pyralidina Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1884 (3): 277-350.
• Bainbrigge-fletcher, T. (1914) Some south Indian insects and other animals of importance considered especially from an economic point of view. Madras, Printed by the superintendent, government press, 565pp.
• Rothchild, L.W. (1916) Lepidoptera of the British Ornithological Union and Wollaston Expedition in the Snow Mountains, southern Dutch New Guinea. Rep. B. O. U. exp. 2 (15): 1-162.
• Conway, G. & Tay, E.B. (1968) Crop pests in Sabah, Malaysia and their control: With a provisional check list of insects and other animals of agricultural importance in Sabah. Kementerian Pertanian dan Perikanan Sabah, Malaysia [State Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries (Sabah, Malaysia)].
• Barrion, AT. & Litsinger, J.A. 1980, Ants - A natural enemy of Cnaphalocrosis medinalis larvae in dryland rice. International Rice Research Newsletter 5 (4) : 22-23.
• Bradley, J.D. (1981) Marasmia patnalis sp. n. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) on rice in S.E. Asia. Bull. Ent. Res. 71 (2): 323-327.
• Common, I.F.B. (1990) Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, Australia. pp. 535.
• Munroe, E.G. (1991). Transfer of Aulacodes eupselias Meyrick to Pyraustinae, with notes on the genus Marasmia Lederer and on cataclystiform wing patterns in the family Crambidae (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea). Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 31: 122-130.
• Pathak, M.D., Zeyaur, R. & Khan, Z.R. (1994) Insect Pests of Rice, International Rice Research Institute, 89 pp.
• Suheer, K. & Narendran, T.C. (2005) A new species of Scenocharops (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) parasitic on Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenée) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) from Peninsular India. Zoo's print Journal 20 (7): 1917-1919.
• Walker, F. (1859d [May 10]) Pyralides, In; List Spec. Lepid. Ins. Coll. B. M., Cat. Lepid. Heterocera. Ser. 4, 18: 509-798.
• Swinhoe, C. (1890b) The Moths of Burma, Pt. 2. Trans. ent. Soc. Lond.: 201-296, pls. 6-8.
• Lederer, J. (1863c [Nov]) Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Pyralidinen. Wien. entomol. Monat. 7 (11): 379-426, pl. 2-18.
• Klima, A., (1937a) Pyralididae: Subfam.: Scopariinae et Nymphulinae. In Bryk, F. [ed.] Lepidopterorum Catalogus, 84: 226 pp. The Hague, Dr. W. Junk Publishers, Berlin & The Hague.