Rhesala moestalis

Rhesala moestalis is a species of moth of the family Erebidae[1] first described by Francis Walker in 1866. It is found throughout subtropical Africa, from Sierra Leone in the west to Somalia in the east and South Africa in the south. It is also found on most of the African Indian Ocean islands.[2] and in South and South-East Asia.

Rhesala moestalis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Erebidae
Genus:
Rhesala
Species:
R. moestalis
Binomial name
Rhesala moestalis
(Walker, 1866)
Synonyms
  • Magulaba moestalis Walker, 1866
  • Hingula figurata Moore, 1885
  • Rimulia malgassica von Heyden, 1891
  • Cerynea ragazzii Berio, 1937

They have a wingspan of 14–20 mm.

The larvae feed on Fabaceae species, such as Acacia mellifera, Acacia tortilis and Albizia lebbeck. In India they have been recorded as a pest of nursery and young shade trees in tea plantations with a preference for Albizia odoratissima, Albizia procera as well as Albizia lebbeck.[3]

Original description

George Hampson described them in The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma in 1894 as follows:[4]

Dark fuscous brown with a greyish tinge; the head and collar dark red- brown. Fore wing with some dark specks on costa; waved ante- and postmedial lines, the latter excurved round cell; the orbicular and reniform large and indistinct and more or less prominently defined by hyaline lines; a dark spot at apex; a marginal series of black specks. Hind wing with a cell-spot with hyaline specks on its edges; a sinuous medial line with dark specks on it; traces of a pale submarginal lunulate line; an indistinct lunulate red-brown marginal band. Some specimens have a dark patch on disk of fore wing; others have the black-speckled medial line of hind wing double towards inner margin. Hab. W.Africa; Japan; throughout India and Ceylon. Exp. 18-24 millim.

References
  1. Zahiri, Reza; Holloway, Jeremy D.; Kitching, Ian J.; Lafontaine, J. Donald; Mutanen, Marko; Wahlberg, Niklas (2012). "Molecular phylogenetics of Erebidae (Lepidoptera, Noctuoidea)". Systematic Entomology. 37 (1): 102–124. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.2011.00607.x. ISSN 1365-3113. S2CID 84249695.
  2. De Prins, J. & De Prins, W. (2019). "Rhesala moestalis (Walker, 1866)". Afromoths. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  3. "CAB Direct". www.cabdirect.org. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  4. "us.archive.org". Retrieved 21 September 2017.


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