Acrapex yakoba Le Ru, 2014

Overholt, William A., Hidayat, Purnama, Ru, Bruno Le, Takasu, Keiji, Goolsby, John A., Racelis, Alex, Burrell, A. Millie, Amalin, Divina, Agum, Winnifred, Njaku, Mohamed, Pallangyo, Beatrice, Klein, Patricia E. & Cuda, James P., 2016, Potential biological control agents for management of cogongrass (Cyperales: Poaceae) in the southeastern USA, Florida Entomologist 99 (4), pp. 734-734 : 734-

Acrapex yakoba Le Ru ( Lepidoptera : Noctuidae )

Le Ru and colleaGues have been investiGatinG lepidopteran stemborers associated with native Grasses in East and Central Africa for the past 13 yr ( Le Ru et al. 2006), and they have discovered 4 species in the genus Acrapex that have only been collected from coGonGrass ( Le Ru et al. 2014). In Feb 2013, 580 larvae of A. yakoba were collected from several patches of coGonGrass in the Njombe reGion of southwestern Tanzania. Of the total collection, 490 larvae were taken to the laboratories of the International Center of Insect PhysioloGy and EcoloGy (ICIPE) in Nairobi, Kenya, whereas 90 larvae were hand-carried to the Fort Pierce quarantine laboratory.In Fort Pierce,27% of larvae pupated and of those, 10 produced adults, which were placed in a 4 L plastic caGe with cut stems of coGonGrass. No matinG was observed, but 206 eggs were laid in leaf sheaths in groups of 1 to 64. In total, 21 eggs eclosed and neonate larvae were placed on an artificial diet. All larvae died before moltinG to the 2nd instar. In Nairobi, 25% of larvae pupat- ed, 16 adults emerGed and laid 336 eGGs, of which 170 eclosed (46%). Neonate larvae were placed on an ICIPE-developed diet (OnyanGo & OchienG’ Odero 1994), but none completed development.