Phthorimaea absoluta Meyrick, 1917

D, Nandhini, R, Shashank P., Joshi, Rahul & Reddy, Karthik M., 2024, A catalogue of Indian Gelechiidae Stainton, 1854 (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea), Zootaxa 5420 (1), pp. 1-121 : 84

277. Phthorimaea absoluta Meyrick, 1917

Phthorimaea absoluta Meyrick, 1917a: 45 ; TL: Peru, Huancayo (Holotype ♂) ( NHMUK) .

Distribution: India: Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand. Elsewhere : Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe; Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, Georgia, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Yemen; Europe: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom; North America: Costa Rica, Haiti, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago; South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela ( Araújo and Ribeiro 2022).

Illustrations: Adult and genitalia ( Clarke 1965: 80; Clarke 1969: 143; Landry & Roque-Albelo 2010: 720; Mutamiswa et al. 2017: 49; Chang & Metz 2021: 41); egg ( Chavan et al. 2020).

Hosts: Amaranthus spinosus , A. viridis ( Amaranthaceae ); Sonchus oleraceus , Xanthium strumarium ( Asteraceae ); Sinapis arvensis ( Brassicaceae ); Beta vulgaris , Chenopodium album , C. bonus-henricus , C. rubrum , Spinacia oleracea ( Chenopodiaceae ); Convolvulus arvensis ( Convolvulaceae ); Cucumis sativus ( Cucurbitaceae ); Jatropha curcas ( Euphorbiaceae ); Medicago sativa , Phaseolus vulgaris ( Fabaceae ); Piper nigrum ( Piperaceae ); Sorghum halepense ( Poaceae ); Atropa belladonna , Capsicum sp. , C. annuum , Datura stramonium , Lycopersicon pennellii , L. pimpinellifolium , Nicotiana glauca , N. rustica , N. tabacum , Physalis angulate , P. peruviana , Salpichroa origanifolia , Solanum americanum , S. bonariense , S. cheesmaniae , S. dubium , S. dulcamara , S. chenopodioides , S. elaeagnifolium , S. habrochaites , S. lycopersicum , S. melongena , S. muricatum , S. nigrum , S. pennellii , S. pseudocapsicum , S. sisymbriifolium , S. tuberosum , S. woronowii ( Solanaceae ) ( Araújo and Ribeiro 2022).

Natural Enemies: Parasitoids: Agathis fuscipennis , Apanteles gelechiidivoris , Bracon sp. , B. lucileae , Earinus sp. , ( Braconidae ); Haltichella sp. , Spilochalcis sp. ( Chalcididae ); Copidosoma sp. , C. koehleri ( Encyrtidae ); Dicladocerus sp. , Dineulophus phthorimaeae , Dolichogenidea gelechiidivoris , Elachertus inunctus , E. pulcher , Horismenus sp. , Necremnus tutae , Neochrysocharis formosa , Stenomesius japonicus , Tetrastichus sp. ( Eulophidae ); Diadegma sp. ( Ichneumonidae ); Trichogramma exiguum , T. nerudai , T. pretiosum ( Trichogrammatidae ); Predators: Dicyphus errans , Engytatus varians , Macrolophus pygmaeus , M. basicornis , Nesidiocoris tenuis , Tupiocoris cucurbitaceus ( Miridae ); Nabis pseudoferus ( Nabidae ); Pathogens: Bacillus thuringiensis , B. t. kurstaki, B. t. thuringiensis , Beauveria bassiana (entomopathogenic bacteria); Granulosis virus (entomopathogenic virus); Metarhizium anisopliae , Steinernema carpocapsae , S. feltiae (entomopathogenic fungi) ( Araújo and Ribeiro 2022).

Remark: Chang & Metz (2021) addressed the classification issues of Tuta absoluta within Gnorimoschemini , proposing its classification within the genus Phthorimaea by employing cladistic methodology and morphological characters, resulting in the reinstatement of scientific name, Phthorimaea absoluta .