Melitara prodenialis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Pyralidae
Genus: Melitara
Species:
M. prodenialis
Binomial name
Melitara prodenialis
Walker, 1863
Synonyms
  • Zophoidia prodenialis
  • Zophoidia bollii Zeller, 1872
  • Zophodia bollii Zeller, 1872

Melitara prodenialis is a moth of the family Pyralidae described by Francis Walker in 1863. It is native to North America, where it is known from south-eastern New York to Florida along the Atlantic coastal plain, and west to eastern Oklahoma and north-central and south-eastern Texas. It is an introduced species in Hawaii. It is a special concern species in Connecticut. [1]

There are two generations per year throughout most of its range, but three generations in Florida. Adults are on wing from June to July and from September to October in Arkansas.

The larvae feed on Opuntia cladodes.[2] Larvae are gregarious within the cladode, and may feed in several cladodes to complete development.

Pupation occurs in a silken cocoon on the surface of the soil under a dead cladode or other debris.

References

  1. ↑ "Connecticut's Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species 2015". State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Bureau of Natural Resources. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  2. ↑ Rearing a native cactus moth, Melitara prodenialis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), on artificial diet and Opuntia cladodes: Preliminary comparisons Oulimathe Paraiso, Trevor Randall Smith, Stephen D. Hight, Bobbie Jo Davis Florida Entomologist Vol. 97, No. 3 (September 2014)


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