Stictoptera cucullioides
| Stictoptera cucullioides | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Noctuidae |
| Genus: | Stictoptera |
| Species: | S. cucullioides |
| Binomial name | |
| Stictoptera cucullioides Guenée, 1852 | |
| Synonyms | |
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Stictoptera cucullioides is a moth of the Noctuidae family. It is found from the Indo-Australian tropics to the Bismarck Islands and Queensland. It is an introduced species in Hawaii, where it is found on Oahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaii.
Larvae have been recorded on Mesua and Calophyllum species (including Calophyllum inophyllum) and have been reared on Garcinia species. Other recorded foodplants include Clusia rosea, Garcinia cambogia and Mammea americana.
The larvae is fat, slightly tumid at the posterior end and with a berry-shaped swelling over the anterior part of the abdomen and thoracic segments. The head is half the breadth of the body. The skin of the body is smooth, translucent, but the more or less round head is brown to red-brown. The body is light whitish green with white lines. Another batch of larvae on the same host (Mesua) were darker, especially the dorsal line which was blackish flanked by broadish dull white lines. A third batch (on Calophyllum) were more purplish in the dark areas but generally similarly marked. The length at maturity is approximately 30 mm and the breadth 5 mm.
The larvae tend to be found when their host-plant is in flush, especially when the leaves are yellow-white to pinkish. The larvae rest fully stretched on the undersides of the tender new leaves. They move actively from place to place. They turn pinkish before pupating, going down to the earth to make a fairly close-fitting dense cocoon of silk incorporating particles of earth and leaf litter near the surface. The pupa is attached lightly by the cremaster inside.