Sesamia calamistis Hampson, 1910d

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 424

Sesamia calamistis Hampson, 1910d *

COMMON NAME (S): African Pink Stem borer, African pink borer of sugarcane, African Pink Stalkborer, African pink stem borer, Maize stalk borer, Mauritius Pink Borer of sugarcane, Mauritius pink borer of sugarcane, Pink stalk borer, Pink

Stalk Borer of sugarcane, Pink stem-borer, Southern pink borer of sugarcane.

SYNONYM(S): Sesamia mediastriga Bethune-Baker, 1911 ; Sesamia vuteria sensu auct.

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique,

Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Réunion, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania,

Uganda, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Mazabuka [Nakambala] **, in Southern Province ; Chilanga ** and Lusaka **, in Lusaka Province; Mkushi and Sertenje, in Central Province .

LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): The taxon is a crop pest in Zambia and elsewhwere in Africa where it is found. The main crops affected are maize, sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, Bulrush Millet, wheat, rice and sugarcane. The larvae

(caterpillars) can tunnel into the stem which can result in broken stems or drying and eventual death of the growing point of the maize. Primary crop hosts: maize, sorghum, pearl millet, wheat, rice, sugarcane.

Wild hosts: Poaceae (grasses) e.g. Pennisetum purpureum Schumach. , Setaria species and itchgrass

( Ophiuros exaltatus (L.) Kuntze) and sedges ( Cyperaceae ) such as Cyperus distans L.f.

In South Africa, the Braconidae wasps Bracon sesamiae Cameron and Cotesia sesamiae (Cameron) ,

the Eulophidae wasp Pediobius furvus (Gahan) , the Ichneumonidae wasp Dentichasmias busseolae

Heinrich and the Scelionidae wasp Telenomus busseolae Gahan , the are parasitoids of the taxon in the country ( Prinsloo & Uys 2015). Elsewhere in Africa the following Ichneumonidae wasps are reported as parasitoids of the taxon; Enicospilus mauritii (Saussure) , E. ruscus Gauld & Mitchell , E. sesamiae

Delobel, E. transvaalensis Cameron , Ichneumon unicinctus Brullé , Netelia melanopus (Brullé) and

Xanthopimpla stemmator (Thunberg) ( Rousse & Villemant 2012).

SOURCES: De Prins & De Prins 2022; Kopij 2006; Page et al. 1985; Prinsloo & Uys 2015; Rousse & Villemant 2012; Tams & Bowden 1953.