Spilosoma occidens

Spilosoma occidens is a moth in the family Erebidae. It was described by Walter Rothschild in 1910. It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

Spilosoma occidens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Noctuoidea
Family:	Erebidae
Subfamily:	Arctiinae
Genus:	Spilosoma
Species:	S. occidens
Binomial name
Spilosoma occidens (Rothschild, 1910)
Synonyms
Diacrisia occidens Rothschild, 1910

Larva have been reported feeding on Malvaceae.[1]

Description

Male

Head and thorax ochreous, the vertex of head, tegulae, and patagia with greenish-grey patches, the back of head and tips of tegulae orange; palpi above blackish; antennae brown; legs blackish; abdomen orange with black segmental lines and dorsal band on 2nd segment, the sides fuscous, the ventral surface ochreous. Forewing uniform ochreous. Hindwing pale ochreous yellow, the inner area rather yellower.

Female

Abdomen with broad black dorsal hands; wings more orange yellow. Forewing with faint greyish fasciae in the interspaces, often more developed in the female.

Wingspan for the male 32–44 mm and for the female 44–56 mm. This may be an aberration of Binna penicillata.[2]

Subspecies

• Spilosoma occidens occidens Goodger & Watson, 1995[3]
• Spilosoma occidens nyangweensis (Strand, 1922)[4]

References

1. Afro Moths
2. Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum S.2 1920 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
3. Spilosoma occidens at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
4. Afromoths

• Beccaloni, G.; Scoble, M.; Kitching, I.; Simonsen, T.; Robinson, G.; Pitkin, B.; Hine, A.; Lyal, C., eds. (2003). "Spilosoma occidens". The Global Lepidoptera Names Index. Natural History Museum.