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Spodoptera
pectinicornis Hampson comb. n.
Xanthoptera pectinicornis Hampson, 1895, Trans. ent. Soc. Lond., 1895: 302.
Caradrina hennia Swinhoe, 1901, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (7), 7: 495, syn. n.
Spodoptera
pectinicornis 
(Java) |
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Diagnosis.
The species
is like a very small S. pecten, and the male antenae are similarly
bipectinate but the pectinations are relatively much longer. It is best
distinguished by the male genitalia (illustrated).
Taxonomic
notes. This
species has the features definitive of Spodoptera described in the
generic account: the distal harpe of the valve interacting with a notch in the
membranous zone of the ventral margin between sacculus and apex; a small
ampullate process subbasally and subcostally; a weak corema at the base of the
valve; an expanded eighth abdominal segment in the female; a short, band-like,
scobinate signum.
Geographical
range. N.E.
Himalaya to Sundaland, also in New Guinea.
Habitat
preference. The
species is associated with sluggish waterways and other bodies of fresh water
where its host-plant grows.
Biology.
The egg mass
is typical of Spodoptera (M.J.W. Cock, pers. comm.). The larva
feeds on the water plants Pistia stratiotes (Araceae) and Eichhornia
crassipes (Pontederiaceae), principally on the former (unpublished CIE
records and specimen label data).
The
species is used for biological control of its host-plants in Thailand and may
have been introduced for this purpose to New Guinea.
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