Nepita
Nepita conferta
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Erebidae
Subfamily: Arctiinae
Genus: Nepita
Moore, 1860
Species:
N. conferta
Binomial name
Nepita conferta
(Walker, 1854)
Synonyms
  • Asura conferta Walker, 1854
  • Pitane conferta Walker, 1854
  • Nepita anila Moore, [1860]
  • Nepita signata Walker, [1865]
  • Nepita aegrota Butler, 1877
  • Nepita ochracea Butler, 1877
  • Nepita limbata Butler, 1877
  • Nepita conferta var. fusca Hampson, 1893

Nepita is a monotypic moth genus in the subfamily Arctiinae erected by Frederic Moore in 1860. Its only species, Nepita conferta, the footman moth, was first described by Francis Walker in 1854. It is found in India and Sri Lanka.[1][2]

Description

Palpi porrect (extending forward), extending beyond the frons, and fringed with hair below. Antennae roughly scaled. Tibia with long spurs. Forewings are broad and short. Veins 3 to 5 from close to angle of cell and vein 6 from below upper angle. Veins 7 to 9 stalked and vein 11 anastomosing with vein 12. Hindwings with stalked vein 4 and 5 and 6 and 7. From 8 from beyond middle of cell.[3]

Male antennae bipectinate with short branches. Head and thorax orange, where thorax with black spots. Abdomen black, orange below and at extremity. Forewings orange with some black marks at base. Antemedial and medial bands are curved and waved, which coalesce at median vein. There is a black spot on discocellulars. The post medial band is waved and excurved round end of cell. A series of submarginal spots and streaks present, often conjoined into a band. Margin and cilia are black. Hindwings have orange base, and a broad marginal black band. The spots and streaks differ in each region of the moth survives, where the limbata and ochracea forms have narrow bands on forewings. Forms conferta, aegrota, anila has broad bands on forewings. fusca from Sri Lanka is brown suffused. These differences gave earlier division of the species into many binomials.[4]

Larva purplish black and short, swollen in shape. Each somite thickly covered with long black hair tufts. First, seventh and anal somites possess dorsal orange marks. There is a slender line runs from the seventh to the anal somite.

Ecology

They are often found in wet, moist habitats and larva mostly feed on mosses and lichen. The larva was recorded as a minor pest of brinjal.[5] They were observed as hosts of Glyptapanteles species of parasitoid wasps.[6] It is highly adaptable to domestic conditions, caterpillars are found on moist walls in rainy seasons, sometimes in large numbers.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Beccaloni, G.; Scoble, M.; Kitching, I.; Simonsen, T.; Robinson, G.; Pitkin, B.; Hine, A.; Lyal, C., eds. (2003). "Asura conferta​". The Global Lepidoptera Names Index. Natural History Museum.
  2. ↑ "Footman Moth". Project Noah. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  3. ↑ Hampson, G. F. (1894). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths Volume II. Vol. Moths - Vol. II. Taylor and Francis – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  4. ↑ "Nepita conferta Walker (1854)". India Biodiversity Portal. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  5. ↑ Sharma, Gaurav; Kumar, Rajesh; Pathania, P.C.; Ramamurthy, V. V. (2007-01-01). "Biodiversity of lepidopterous insects associated with vegetables in India-a study". Indian Journal of Entomology. 70: 369–384.
  6. ↑ Gupta, Ankita; Venkatesan, Thiruvengadam; More, Ravi P. (2016-03-04). "Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Reared Parasitoid Wasps of the Genus Glyptapanteles Ashmead 1904 (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) Associated with Lepidoptera in India". PLOS ONE. 11 (3): e0150765. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1150765G. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0150765. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4778878. PMID 26942740.
  7. ↑ "Nepita conferta (Walker)". Insects in Indian Agroecosystems. ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
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  • Savela, Markku (ed.). "Nepita Moore, [1860]". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
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