Elophila difflualis Snellen
- Family: Crambidae
- Subfamily: Acentropinae
- Genus: Elophila
- Distribution: India (Maharashtra, Tamilnadu), Thailand, Sabah, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, China, Australia (NT, Q).
- Habitat: Worldwide adventive with water plants
- Wing Length: 8mm
Taxonomy
The male holotype of Hydrocampa difflualis Snellen 1880-1892 [1880]: 75-76 from India Bombay is in the BMNH.
- syn. Isopteryx enixalis Swinhoe, 1885: 869. TL India (Bombay); syn. n. Agassiz, (1978: 120);
- syn. Nymphula osculatrix Meyrick, 1933: 394. TL Siam [Thailand]; lectotype designated Agassiz, (1978).
- syn. Cymoriza linealis Moore, 1888: 210. TL India (Calcutta) (syn. note by Agassiz 1985 on LepIndex card).
Once considered syn. with Diasemia [Elophila] responsalis Walker ([1866] 1865: 1326) and Nymphicula manilensis Sauber, 1902: 654. TL Philippines (Luzon) but Agassiz considers them good spp. (LepIndex).
Description
A fulvous brown and white sp. with a paler median band across both wings. Close examination of the patterning should distinguish this from Elophila turbata (Butler). It can also be confused with the smaller Elophila melagynalis Agassiz, 1978 but that has no yellow discal spots on the Uns and Ups of the FW and its female has an almost vertical white bar from the tornus of the HW. Agassiz (1978) and Li et al. (2009: 354: 174-175, Pl. X fig. 145, pl. LXXXII) illustrate the sp. but unusually Li et al only provide a figure of the female genitalia. Yoshiyasu (1987) includes the sp. in a key to Thai Elophila spp. Chen et al. (2010) give a key to 15 Chinese Elophila spp. and two plates of illustrations of the spp.
Life History
Li et al. list the foodplants as Hydrocharis asiatica, (Hydrocharitaceae); Azolla imbricata; Salvinia natans, (Pteridophyta, Salviniacea); Lemna paucicostata, Spirodela polyrhiza, Pistia stratiotes (Araceae).
References
- Walker ([1866 Jan 13] 1865) List Spec Lepid. Ins. Coll. B. M., Cat. Lepid. Heterocera. 34, (Suppl. 4): 1121-1533.
- Snellen, P.C.T., (1880-1892 [1880]). Achtse afdeeling. Lepidoptera door P.C.T. Snellen, met eene inleiding door Joh. F. Snelleman. In: Veth, P.J., (1880-1892). Natuurlijke Historie. Midden-Sumatra. 4 (8): 92 pp., 5 pl. Leiden. [in Dutch]
- Swinhoe, C. (1885) on the Lepidoptera of Bombay and the Deccan, part iv Heterocera (continued). Proc. zool. Soc. Lond.: 862-888, pls. 56-57.
- Meyrick, E. (1933) Exot. Microlep., 4: 394.
- Agassiz, D. J. (1978) Five introduced species, including one new to science, of China Mark Moths (Lepidoptera; Pyralidae), new to Britain. Ent. Gaz., 29., 117-127.
- Speidel, W. (1984) Revision der Acentropinae des palaearktischen fuanengebietes (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) Neue ent. Nachr., 12: 1-149, 3 pls.
- Yoshiyasu, Y. (1987) Microlepid. Thailand, 1: 133-185.
- Li, Hou Hun & Ren Yingdang et. al. (2009) Henan insect fauna Lepidoptera: Pyralidae. 440pp, Science Press. [in Chinese]
- Chen, F. -Q, Wu, C -S. & Xue, D. -Y. (2010) A review of the genus Elophila Hübner, 1822 in China (Lepidoptera: Crambidae: Acentropinae). Aquatic Insects 32 (1): 35-60.
- Speidel, W. & Mey, W. (1999b) Catalogue of the oriental Acentropinae (Crambidae, Pyralidae). Tijdschr. v. Entomol. 142: 125-142, figs. 1-3.