Dichocrocis bilinealis Hampson

Taxonomy

The holotype of Dichocrocis bilinealis Hampson, 1896: 306-307 is from Burma (Tenasserim).

Externally this sp. appears to be exactly the same as Astura festivalis Swinhoe, 1885: 872-873. TL India, Mumbai [Bombay] and it is probably a junior subjective syn. However until we have more information we are treating them as separate spp.

It is uncertain as to how the black and yellow genera Conogethes Meyrick 1884: 293, 314 and Dichocrocis Lederer 1863: 447 relate to each other and many spp. in both genera need to be re-assessed.

Originally the genera are syn. Our pragmatic solution is to consider any predominately spotted morphotypes as Congethes and any with predominately linear markings as Dichocrocis. We follow Shaffer et al. (1996) in considering both genera as good genera.

Description

A black and yellow sp. with the typical D. frenatalis pattern. With a FW having broad brown-black post median and ante-median bands, a large dark orbicular spot and a smaller punctum at the proximal end of the cell. There is another dark spot basally on the subcosta. The HW has a looping, broad brown-black post-median line and an elongate dark spot towards the anterior margin. Both wings have broad brown sub-termenal shading. The head, thorax and abdomen are yellow with a dark band near the tip. It differs from D. pandamalis in having continuous black ante-median and post-median black bands. D. clytusalis Walker, 1859d differs in lacking the dark termenae and it also lacks the small punctum on the FW.

Life History

Singh & Kumar (1992) reported D. festivalis infesting 11.36 -33.33% of litchi [lychee] fruit in Bihar. The larvae made holes at the stalk end and bored through the pulp to the seeds.

References

• Swinhoe, (C. 1885 [1886]) On the Lepidoptera of Bombay and the Deccan. Part IV. Heterocera (continued). Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1885 (4): 852-886, pls 56-57.
• Hampson, G.F. (1896) Moths, Vol. IV, In Blandford, W.T. (ed.), The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma, W.T., Taylor and Francis, London: xxiii + 594pp.
• Singh, Y.P. & Kumar, V. (1992) Dichocrocis festivalis Swinh. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) a new pest of litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 89 (1): 137.
• Kumar, V., Anal, A. K. D. & Nat, V. (2014) Prevalence of some threatening pests and diseases of litchi (Litchi sinensis) in Bihar state of India. J. Appl. Hort. 16 (3): 235-240.