Phyllalia patens

Phyllalia patens is a moth in the family Eupterotidae. It was described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1847.[1] It is found in Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga in South Africa.[2]

Phyllalia patens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Eupterotidae
Genus:
Phyllalia
Species:
P. patens
Binomial name
Phyllalia patens
(Boisduval, 1847)
Synonyms
  • Bombyx patens Boisduval, 1847
  • Dreata concolor Walker, 1855

Adults are fawn coloured, with the abdomen and hindwings hardly paler than the forewings. All wings are very broad and rather short.[3]

The larvae feed on Cynodon dactylon and Ehrharta calycina. They construct a sort of grotto on the ground under the leaves of the host plant, in which it remains concealed during the heat of the day, emerging and feeding in the cool of the evening. The larvae a velvety black body above, while it is pale fulvous underneath. The head is bright red.[4]

References
  1. Beccaloni, George; et al. (February 2005). "Scientific name search". The Global Lepidoptera Names Index. Natural History Museum, London.
  2. De Prins, J. & De Prins, W. (2017). "Phyllalia patens (Boisduval, 1847)". Afromoths. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  3. Walker, F. 1855b. List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. Part IV.– Lepidoptera Heterocera; p. 908
  4. Fawcett, J. M. 1903. Notes on the Transformations of some South-African Lepidoptera. - Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 17(2); pp. 173–174


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