Heliothelinae, Amsel, 1961

Singh, Navneet, Ranjan, Rahul, Talukdar, Avishek, Joshi, Rahul, Kirti, Jagbir Singh, Chandra, Kailash & Mally, Richard, 2022, A catalogue of Indian Pyraloidea (Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5197 (1), pp. 1-423 : 32-33

2.4. Heliothelinae

Diversity and distribution: comprise 29 valid species in three genera globally (Nuss et al. 2003–2022). In India, the subfamily is known by a single species, Heliothela ophideresana (Walker) , representing 3.44% of the global Heliothelinae diversity. Heliothelinae are present on all the Old World continents, where they mostly inhabit arid habitats ( Nuss 1998, 2005a). In India, the subfamily is distributed in the Himalaya, North East, the Western Ghats, the Deccan Peninsula, and the Coasts.

Adult characters: small, dark-winged diurnal moths with yellow to orange hindwings in many species. In the female genitalia, the corpus bursae exhibit an invaginated spine, and appendix bursae are absent ( Nuss 1998, 2005a).

Larval characters: larvae are poorly studied. The body of fully-grown, 8 mm long larvae is alternately lightdark striped, with an almost black head and prothorax ( Nuss 2005a).

Food plants: Schütze (1931) found the larva of the related Heliothela wulfeniana Scopoli on Mentha spp. (Lamiaceae) , and Jensen (1968) reports the same species (as H. atralis Hübner ) from cultivated Viola tricolor (Violaceae) .