Palpita vitrealis ( Rossi, 1794 )

Poltavsky, Alexander N., Kravchenko, Vasiliy D., Traore, Mohammed M., Traore, Sekou F., Gergely, Petrányi, Witt, Thomas J., Sulak, Harry, Beck, T., Junnila, Amy, Revay, Edita E., Doumbia, Seydou, Beier, John C. & Muller, Gunter C., 2018, The Pyraloidea (Lepidoptera) fauna of the woody savannah belt in Mali, West Africa, Zootaxa 4457 (1), pp. 39-69 : 55

49. Palpita vitrealis ( Rossi, 1794)

Synonymy follows Nuss et al. (2003 –2018):

= Pyralis unionalis Hübner, 1796 .

Material : 13 ex. Mali, Bamako, Ouronina 12°5'39.78"N 8°24'3.16"W, 21– 28.01.2014, leg. Kravchenko et al., 421 ex. same data except the date 14.05.– 28.10.2014 ( SMNH) .

Distribution: Cosmopolitan. In Africa: Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe ( De Prins & De Prins 2018) and Mali (new record). Also in Australasia: Australia; Oriental: South Asia; Palaearctic: Canary Islands, Japan, Madeira, South Europe ( De Prins & De Prins 2018).

Host-plants: Oleaceae : Fraxinus sp., Jasminum auriculatum Vahl , J. dichotomum Vahl , J. fluminense Vell. , J. officinale L., J. sambac (L.) Aiton, Ligustrum sp., Olea europaea L., Phillyrea sp. ( De Prins & De Prins 2018). Known as olive leaf moth—this pest is highly mobile having dispersed as far as northern Europe, such as Sweden and Poland. This species has also been recorded on wild olives in Southern Africa and jasmine in Kenya ( Ghoneim 2015).