Hyblaea puera ( Cramer, 1777 )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 77

Hyblaea puera ( Cramer, 1777)

COMMON NAME (S): Teak Leaf Roller, Teak defoliator or Teak Defoliator Moth. SYNONYM(S): Noctua saga Fabricius, 1787 ; Noctua unxia Ḩbner, 1810; Nabara limacodella Walker, 1866b ; Aenigma mirificum Strecker, 1876 ; Hyblaea insulsa Gaede, 1917d .

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Australia, Belize, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Honduras,

India, Indonesia, Indonesia (Java), Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius,

Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, New Guinea, Nigeria, Réunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands,

Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, USA, Yemen, Zambia,

Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Mulobezi in Western Province. LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): The plant species Premna serratifolia L. from the Lamiaceae family is the hostplant of the taxon in the Seychelles. In the Réunion, Lantana camara L. ( Verbenaceae ), Ricinus commu nis L. ( Euphorbiaceae )

and Cassia fistula L. ( Fabaceae ), host the taxon. Elsehwere in Africa the following plant species are the host plants of the taxon; Avicennia marina (Forssk.) Vierh. (Acanthaceae) , Spathodea campanulata

P. Beauv. ( Bignoniaceae ), Panicum maximum Jacq. (Poaceae) , Eugenia sp. (Myrtaceae) , Rhizophora mucronata Lam. (Rhizophoraceae) , Tectona grandis L.f. ( Verbenaceae ), Vitex sp. (Lamiaceae) , Schefflera

sp. ( Araliaceae ) and Tabebuia sp. (Bignoniaceae) . However, none of these or any other plants have been named as hosts of this taxon in Zambia. Without specifying in which African countries they are found, the African Moths (2019) webpage simply lists the following as larval foodplants of the taxon:

one Acanthaceae species, the grey mangrove or white mangrove, Avicennia marina (Forssk.) Vierh. ;

one Rhizophoraceae species, the loop-root mangrove, red mangrove or Asiatic mangrove, Rhizophora mucronate Lam. ; three Bignoniaceae species, Spathodea campanulata P. Beauv. , Markhamia lutea

(Benth.) K.Schum., and Tabebuia sp. ; one Myrtaceae species, Eugenia sp. ; two Lamiaceae species,

Tectona grandis L.f. and Vitex sp. ; one Araliaceae species, Schefflera sp. ; one Verbenaceae species,

Lantana camara L.; one Euphorbiaceae species, Ricinus communis L.; one Fabaceae species, Cassia fistula L.; one Malvaceae species Gossypium sp. and; one Poaceae species, Panicum maximum Jacq.

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; De Prins & De Prins 2022; IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017-1; Pinhey 1975.