Author: (Lower, 1898)
Species Overview:
Adult: 15-22 mm wingspan; forewing tawny, males with a blackish brown fascia extending along the dorsum, females with dark reddish-tawny pre-tornal spot.
Egg: deposited singly or in pairs on the maturing pods.
Larva: 15-19 mm long; pink, flesh-coloured or yellowish; head broad, reddish-brown; prothoracic shield dark brown; pinacula brown or yellowish.
Pupa: 8 mm long, yellow-brown; in the pod in a solid cocoon, partially made from frass.
Taxonomic Description:
Male:
Cryptophlebia ombrodelta male
External characters: 15-22 mm wingspan; forewing ground colour tawny, with a blackish brown fascia extending along the dorsum, the tornal area is lightened by an admixture of bone-grey scales. Hindwing with large fold running from near the base of the wing to the dorsum close to the hind leg; it contains specialized scales covered by long hair-like scales (Bradley, 1953).
male genitalia C. ombrodelta
ml. gen.+coremata C. ombrodelta
Genitalia: Tegumen short, broad; uncus atrophied; socii absent. Tuba analis with ventro-lateral sclerite. Valva very thick, 'swollen', neck indistinct; cucullus with strong spines, situated at edges of depressed surface of cucullus, accompanied by long setae; aedeagus with small cornuti.
Female:
Cryptophlebia ombrodelta female
External characters: Forewing ground colour reddish-tawny; forewing with conspicuous, dark reddish-tawny pre-tornal marking, in some specimens crossed by a fuscous dash. Hindwing without long fold containing scales (Bradley, 1953).
female genitalia C. ombrodelta
Genitalia: Sterigma formed by an erect-rectangular or erect-subtrapezoidal plate, rather weak, with a deep median emargination of the caudal edge, in which fits a tulip-shaped body formed by two lateral petal-shaped sclerites, separated by a median, longitudinal split (sometimes ill-defined). Ductus bursae without sclerites; corpus bursae with two unequal thorn-like signa.
Biology:
The full-grown larva leaves the ripe pod through a hole and pupates on the pod in a solid cocoon, partially made up from frass. Females start ovipositing 10 days after hatching and lay their eggs singly or in pairs on the maturing pods. Complete development takes about 26-32 days (Kalshoven, 1981).
Host plants:
Orange (Citrus), coconut, macadamia nuts, Parkinsonia aculeata, Cassia fistula, Cassia occidentalis, Cassia laevigata, Cassia alata, Cassia sophera, Cassia bicapsularis, Nephelium litchi, Acacia spp., Aegle marmelos, Sesbania aculeata, Sesbania grandiflora, Tamarindus indica, Feronia, Adenanthera pavonia, Filicium decipiens, Bauhinia hirsuta, Bauhinia purpurea, Bauhinia malabarica, Parkia, Prosopis juliflora, Cocoloba uvifera, Phaseolus lunatus, Poinciana pulcherrima and Pithecellobium dulce.
Damage:
This species is a pest of legumes. Almost any legume provides suitable food for the larva, which feeds in the pods. Attacks on seeds in the jenkol-pods (Pithecellobium) only become visible after the seeds are cut. The larva nearly empties the seed, which then only contains tunnels filled with frass (Robinson et al., 1994; Kalshoven, 1981).
Distribution:
India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, W. Malaysia, New Guinea, Philippines, Japan, Guam, Caroline Is., Australia and Hawaii (Robinson et al., 1994).
Pheromone:
Pheromone unknown.
Attractantia:
Z 8-12Ac : 93
E 8-12Ac : 6
Z 8-12OH : 1 (Chang, 1995)