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Macaria abydata Guenée
comb. rev.
Macaria
abydata Guenée,
1857, Hist. nat. Insectes, Spec. gen. Lep. 10: 80.
Macaria
lataria Walker,
1861, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus. 22: 740, syn. n.
Macaria
santaremaria Walker,
1861, Ibid. 23: 917, syn. n.
Macaria
adrasata Snellen,
1874, Tijdschr. Ent. 17: 70, syn. n.
Semiothisa
ochrata Warren,
1900, Novit. zool. 7: 206, syn. n.
Chiasmia
vagabunda Inoue,
1986, Tinea, 12: 66.
Macaria abydata 
(Sulawesi)
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Macaria abydata Guenée |
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Diagnosis. The species resembles a large, paler Godonela
mutabilis Warren but has the hindwing postmedial punctate and the thin, dark
marginal line of both wings broken; in mutabilis they are all continuous.
The male genitalia are diagnostic.
Taxonomic notes. D.C. Ferguson (in litt.) has suggested
that the taxa trientata Herrich-Schäffer and punctolineata Packard
may also be synonymous.
Geographical range. The
native range of abydata is from N. Argentina to the Caribbean and
southern U.S.A. Its introduction and spread in the Pacific over the past two
decades has been dramatic, with much in common with the spread of the Leucaena
psyllid, Heteropsylla cubana Crawford, including having Leucaena
latisiliqua (= glauca, leucocephala) as a host-plant (Muddiman,
Hodkinson & Hollis, 1992). Its spread can be summarised as follows (Proc.
Hawaii ent. Soc. (1972-86) 21: 137,148,155,305; 23: 127,135; Inoue, loc.
cit. and in litt.; material in Bishop Museum; material collected by the
author (Sulawesi) or sent to him; material in USNM), with corresponding first
records for the psyllid (Muddiman et al., 1992) in parentheses:
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1970
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Hawaii, now recorded from all the main islands
(1984)
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1975
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Yap, central Micronesia.
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1976
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Ogasawara (Bonin) Is. (Chichijima, Hahajima)
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1977
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Saipan I., central Micronesia (1985)
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1980
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Okinawa
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1983
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Taiwan
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1985
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Guam, central Micronesia (1985) Sulawesi (1986)
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1986
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Tonga (1985)
Fiji (1985)
Ogasawara Is. (Miyakojima)
Luzon, Philippines (1985)
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1987
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New Caledonia (1985)
Sabah, Malaysia
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1988
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Western Samoa (1985)
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1992
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Hong Kong
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Habitat preference. The
Bornean material examined consists of three specimens: two specimens were taken
at 1200m near Kundasan on the slopes of G. Kinabalu by M C. Herbulot; the third,
a melanic form, was taken by Chey Vun Khen in a Gmelina arborea plantation
at Brumas, Sabah. In Sulawesi it was only taken in lowland cultivated areas
where its leguminous hosts could thrive as weeds (e.g. Mimosa invisa). It
is likely to become general to such habitats.
Biology. The larva is a slender, bright green looper with longitudinal pale green
to whitish bands (above).
Host-plants noted in Hawaii have been the native Acacia koa and
introduced Leucaena latisiliqua (defoliator) and Nephelium litchi (flower
feeder). In the Indo-Australian tropics it has been reared from Leucaena (Tonga,
Okinawa) and Mimosa invisa (Samoa). In its New World range recorded
host-plants (D.C. Ferguson, in litt.) are Acacia farnesiana, Cassia,
Sesbania (U.S.A.) Parkinsonia aculeata (Mexico) and Glycine max (Brasil).
All these plants are Leguminosae except Nephelium (Sapindaceae).
The Macariini include relatively few widespread species: only Godonela
avitusaria Walker (See Godonela
avitusaria Walker ) traverses the lines of Wallace and Weber in
the Indo-Australian tropics, and no species occurs naturally east of Vanuatu.
Dispersal powers are therefore generally poor. However, D.C. Ferguson (in
litt.) states that M. abydata appears to disperse annually in the
U.S.A, often reaching Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and, occasionally western or
central New York. Despite this, it is unlikely that the moth has managed to
extend its range so rapidly through the Indo-Australian tropics naturally. The
most likely means of dispersal is transport by man as eggs, larvae or pupae on
live plant material such as Leucaena cuttings. This must raise serious
questions for plant quarantine throughout the region.
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