Conogethes ersealis Walker

Taxonomy

The holotype of Astura ersealis Walker, 1859e: 980 is from Australia (Moreton Bay). It was considered a junior subjective syn. of C. punctiferalis Guenée, 1854: 320.

MS good sp. (Shaffer, 1990 on LepIndex card). Comb. rev. to Conogethes from Dichocrocis (Shaffer et al., 1996).

Shashank et al. (2018: 228) noted that it could be conspecific with C. diminutiva Warren, 1896c) but they lacked enough data to be specific.

Description

Some specimens are larger and a more rich orange yellow than many Conogethes spp. but all these yellow spp. tend to fade to a straw colour. The purple-black spotting can merge to form linear markings. Very similar to C. punctiferalis and one of several spp. once considered syn. with that sp. This and C. evaxalis are probably part of a sp. complex. Most specimens are slightly larger than the type specimen. Note the males of this sp. do not have a dark tornal patch on the HW. The sp. also lacks the distinct spot in the base of the HW cell present in many Conogethes spp.. The illustration of the specimen from Australia (N. Queensland) is larger than the holotype which has a wing length c. 12mm.

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.
• Shashank, P.R., Kammar, V., Mally, R. & Chakravarthy, A.K. (2018) A new Indian species of shoot and capsule borer of the genus Conogethes (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), feeding on cardamom. Zootaxa 4374 (2): 215-234.
• Walker, F. (1859e) Pyralides, In; List Spec. Lepid. Ins. Coll. B. M., Cat. Lepid. Heterocera. Ser. 4, 19: 799-1036.
• Warren, W. (1896c) XVIII New species of moths from the Khasia Hills, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 6, 18 (104): 163-177.