Alpenus investigatorum ( Karsch, 1898a )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 282

Alpenus investigatorum ( Karsch, 1898a)

COMMON NAME (S): Investigated Ermine. SYNONYM(S): Spilosoma cribraria Bartel, 1903a ; Spilosoma mhondana Bartel, 1903a .

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia , Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Kaoma and Lukulu, in Western Province ; Kabompo, in Northwestern Province ; Livingstone, in Southern Province ; Ndola and Chingola, in Copperbelt Province .

LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): Larval foodplants include: one Verbenaceae species ( Tectona grandis L.f.) in Ghana ( Wagner et al. 2008) and one Fabaceae species ( Peltophorum sp. ), one Malvaceae species ( Gossypium sp. ) and one Solanaceae species ( Nicotiana sp. ) in unnamed African country or countries ( Pinhey 1975).

The following are additional plants listed as larval foodplants of this taxon by the African Moths

(2019) webpage: two Fabaceae species (i.e. Arachis hypogaea L. and Medicago sativa L. [Alfalfa, also called lucerne]); four Asteraceae species ( Bidens pilosa L., Dahlia sp. , Galinsoga parviflora Cav. , and

Zinnia sp. ); one Begoniaceae species ( Bigonia sp. ); one Brassicaceae species ( Brassica oleracea L.);

one Caricaceae species ( Carica papaya L. [Pawpaw plant]); one Commelinaceae species ( Commelina

sp.); one Convolvulaceae species ( Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.); one Moraceae species ( Morus sp. ); one

Solanaceae species ( Nicotiana tabacum L. ); one Euphorbiaceae species ( Ricinus sp. ); one Plantaginaceae species ( Russelia equisetiformis Schltdl. & Cham. [Firecracker]); One Solanaceae species ( Solanum melongena L.); and one Poaceae species ( Zea mays L. [Maize or corn]).

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; Catalogue of Life 2017; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Pinhey 1975; Wagner et al. 2008.