Earias insulana ( Boisduval, 1833 )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 385-386

Earias insulana ( Boisduval, 1833)

COMMON NAME (S): Insular Bollworm, Cotton Spotted Bollworm, Spiny Bollworm, Egyptian Stemborer, Egyptian Bollworm.

SYNONYM(S): Earias anthophilana Snellen, 1879 ; Earias chlorion Rambur, 1866 ; Earias dorsivitta Staudinger, 1897 ; Earias frondosana Walker, 1863b ; Earias gossypii Frauenfeld, 1867 ; Tortrix neriana Boisduval, 1833 ; Earias siliquana Herrich-Schäffer, 1851 ; Earias simillima Walker, 1866b ; Earias smaragdinana Zeller, 1852 ; Earias tristrigosa Butler, 1881c ; Acontia xanthophila Walker, 1863b .

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canary Islands, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia (Borneo), Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesian islands, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia , Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Réunion, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Sulawesi, Syria , Taiwan, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Lusaka, in Lusaka Province; Magoye, in Southern Province; Portion of the Southern Africa biodiversity conservation four corners area in Zambia in Northwestern, Western and Southern Provinces of the country ;

Mufulira, in Copperbelt Province.

LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): Larval foodplants include: Seven fully identified Malvaceae species namely, Gossypium herbaceum L., Abelmoschus esculentus Moench , Abutilon hirtum (Lam.) Sweet , Thespesia garckeana F.Hoffm. ,

Grewia trichocarpa Hochst. ex A.Rich. , Urena lobata L. and Waltheria indica L. and six yet to be identified Malvaceae species namely, Hibiscus sp. , Althaea sp. , Corchorus sp. , Sida sp. , Sterculia sp. and

Triumfetta sp. ; one Sterculiaceae species, Melhania velutina Forssk. one Fabaceae species, Ceratonia siliqua L. and one Poaceae species, the maize or corn crop, Zea mays L. The taxon is a major pest of cotton in the Four Corners area of southernAfrica i.e. border areas of Angola, Botswana, Namibia ,

Zambia and Zimbabwe.

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Gardiner 2004; Hampson 1910c.