Busseola fusca ( Fuller, 1901 )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 419-420

Busseola fusca ( Fuller, 1901) *

COMMON NAME (S): Maize stalk borer.

SYNONYM(S): Busseola sorghicida Thurau, 1904 .

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea,

Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Livingstone, Zimba, Choma, Kalomo, Monze **, Pemba and Mazabuka in Southern Province ; Portion of the Southern Africa biodiversity conservation four corners area in Zambia in Northwestern, Western and Southern Provinces of the country; Kafue **, Chilanga ** and University of Zambia Campus ** (Lusaka), in Lusaka Province ; Chisamba, Mumbwa, Kapiri Mposhi, Mkushi, Serenje and Kabwe in Central Province ; Ndola, Kitwe, Mufulira, Chingola and Chililabombwe in Copperbelt Province; Solwezi, Kasempa, Zambezi and Kabompo in Northwestern Province ; Mongu, Kaoma, Sesheke, Senanga and Kalabo in Western Province ; Chadiza, Katete, Lundazi and Chipata in Eastern Province ; Chama, Isoka and Mpika in Muchinga Province ; Mansa and Mwense in Luapula Province ; Kasama and Mbala in Northern Province .

LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): Zea mays L. (Poaceae) is a popular host plant and specifically, a larval foodplant for the taxon in Kenya , Uganda, Cameroon, South Africa, Nigeria, Zambia and many other African countries and consequently, it is a very important pest of the crop in these countries. Other larval foodplants, also in the plant family Poaceae include: Sorghum arundinaceum (Desv.) Stapf , Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench and other unnamed Sorghum species; Saccharum officinarum L. and Pennisetum purpureum Schumach. Prinsloo & Uys (2015) reported Cotesia sesamiae (Cameron) (Braconidae) and Sturmiopsis parasitica (Curran) ( Diptera : Tachinidae ) as important parasitoids of the taxon in South Africa while, Enicospilus sesamiae Delobel and Xanthopimpla stemmator (Thunberg) both from the wasp family Ichneumonidae , are also important parasitoids of the taxon elsewhere in Africa ( Rousse & Villemant 2012).

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Gardiner 2004; Hampson 1910c; Page et al. 1985.

Genus Campydelta Berio, 1964