Maruca vitrata (Fabricius, 1787)

Poltavsky, Alexander N., Kravchenko, Vasiliy D., Traore, Mohammed M., Traore, Sekou F., Gergely, Petrányi, Witt, Thomas J., Sulak, Harry, Beck, T., Junnila, Amy, Revay, Edita E., Doumbia, Seydou, Beier, John C. & Muller, Gunter C., 2018, The Pyraloidea (Lepidoptera) fauna of the woody savannah belt in Mali, West Africa, Zootaxa 4457 (1), pp. 39-69 : 53

41. Maruca vitrata (Fabricius, 1787)

Synonymy follows Nuss et al. (2003 –2018):

= Botys bifenestralis Mabille, 1880 ;

= Crochiphora testulalis Geyer in Hübner, 1832 ;

= Hydrocampe aquitilis Guérin-Méneville, 1832 .

Material : 1 ex. Mali, Bamako, Ouronina 12°5'39.78"N 8°24'3.16"W, 21.01.2017, leg. Kravchenko et al., 582 ex. same data except the date 04.08.– 17.11.2014 ( SMNH) .

Distribution: Pantropical. In Africa: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Réunion, Seychellens, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Zambia, Zimbabwe ( De Prins & De Prins 2018) and Mali (new record). Also in Neotropics, Oriental and Australian regions ( Wikipedia 2018).

Host-plants: Fabaceae : Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. ,, Phaseolus vulgaris L., Pisum sativum L., Vigna radiata (L.) R.Wilczek, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.; Malvaceae : Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L.; Poaceae : Oryza sativa L., Solanaceae : Nicotiana tabacum L. ( Goff 2018). Known as cowpea pod borer—pest of leguminous crops such as pigeon pea, cowpea, mung bean and soybean. Larvae feed on flower buds, flowers and young pods.