Eligma narcissus

Eligma narcissus, the ailanthus defoliator, is a moth in the family Nolidae. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1775. It is found in tropical Asia and the subtropics of China, India, Sri Lanka, Java and Southeast Islands.

Ailanthus defoliator
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Nolidae
Genus:
Eligma
Species:
E. narcissus
Binomial name
Eligma narcissus
(Cramer, 1775)[1]
Synonyms
  • Phalaena narcissus Cramer, [1775]
  • Eligma narcissus indica Rothschild, 1896
  • Eligma narcissus javanica Rothschild, 1896
  • Eligma narcissus philippinensis Rothschild, 1896
  • Eligma narcissus celebensis Tams, 1935

Description

Head and thorax greyish brown and spotted in black. Abdomen bright yellow with dorsal and lateral series of black spots. Forelegs are grey brown and spotted with black. Midlegs and hindlegs are yellowish with black spots on tibia. Tarsi grey brown. Forewings are greyish brown where costal area is with an olive tinge. There is an irregular and diffused curved white fascia from base to apex. Some basal and sub-basal black spots. A waved black line runs from lower angle of cell to inner margin. A submarginal series of black spots, those towards outer angle conjoined into streaks. Hindwings are bright yellow. Apical area is black, suffused or streaked with dark blue, and terminating at vein 1b. Cilia whitish at tips.[2]

Ecology

The larvae feed on Canarium and Ailanthus species, including A. fordii. Young larvae skeletonise leaflets, while older larvae are defoliators.[3][4] They are also found to feed on Ailanthus altissima, Amygdalus persica, and Toona sinensis from China.[5]

References
  1. Catalogue of Life in Taiwan
  2. Hampson, G. F. (1894). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths Volume II. Taylor and Francis – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  3. "hkmoths.com". Archived from the original on 2012-04-26. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
  4. "Eligma narcissus (Cramer)". ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  5. Dai, LS; Zhu, BJ; Zhao, Y; Zhang, CF; Liu, CL (2016). "Comparative Mitochondrial Genome Analysis of Eligma narcissus and other Lepidopteran Insects Reveals Conserved Mitochondrial Genome Organization and Phylogenetic Relationships". Sci Rep. 6: 26387. doi:10.1038/srep26387. PMC 4879558. PMID 27222440.


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