Thysanoplusia orichalcea ( Fabricius, 1775 )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 432

Thysanoplusia orichalcea ( Fabricius, 1775) ( Fig. 41 )*

COMMON NAME (S): Golden Plusia . SYNONYM(S): Noctua chrysitina Martyn, 1797 ; Phalaena orychalcea Ḩbner, 1803; Noctua aurifera Ḩbner, 1813.

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia , Nigeria, Oman, Réunion, Saint Helena _

Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda,

Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Department of Biological Sciences **, University of Zambia , Lusaka, Lusaka Province (Collected many times in Black light trap) .

LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): Larval foodplants include three Asteraceae species ( Lactuca sativa L., Helianthus annuus L. and Chrysanthemum sp. ), two Solanaceae species ( Solanum lycopersicum L. [tomato] and S. tuberosum L.

[potato]), one Scrophulariaceae species ( Phyllopodium bracteatum Benth. ) and one Malvaceae species

( Gossypium sp. ) in South Africa. Other host plants are a Geranium sp. (Geraniaceae) in Saint Helena and the following species from elsewhere but not specified parts of Africa, Coreopsis sp. (Asteraceae) , Allium cepa L. ( Amaryllidaceae ), Cupressus lusitanica Mill. (Cupressaceae) , Entandrophragma angolense

C.DC. ( Meliaceae ), Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. ( Convolvulaceae ), Linum usitatissimum L. ( Linaceae ),

Nicotiana tabacum L. (Solanaceae) , and two species from the family Fabaceae namely, Phaseolus vulgaris L. and Pisum sativum L.

One Braconidae species, Cotesia vestalis (Haliday) and one Encyrtidae species, Copidosema floridanum

(Ashmead) are reported as parasitoids of the taxon in South Africa ( Prinsloo & Uys 2015), while

Xanthopimpla stemmator (Thunbergan) Ichneumonidae wasp is indicated as a parasitoid of the taxon elsewhere in an unnamed country in Africa ( Rousse & Villemant 2012).

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Prinsloo & Uys 2015; Rousse & Villemant 2012.

Genus Vittaplusia Ronkay, Ronkay & Behounek, 2010

Figures

FIGURES 41–43. Adult moths. 41a, Alytarchia leonine (Walker, 1865) (Erebidae: Arctiinae), Lusaka, Zambia, caught at black light trap, 5 July 2011, dorsal view; 41b, ditto, ventral view. 42a, Amerila bubo (Walker, 1855)—White Frother (Erebidae: Arctiinae), collected using a black light trap at the University of Zambia, Department of Biological Sciences, Lusaka, 7 April 2011, dorsal view; 42b, ditto, ventral view. 43a, Metarctia lateritia Herrich-Schäffer, 1855—Laterite Matron (Erebidae: Arctiinae), collected at black light trap, Lusaka, 3 February 2011, dorsal view; 43b, ditto, ventral view. Scale bar 2 cm. © Kind permission of the University of Zambia.