Author: (Meyrick, 1886)
Species Overview:
Adult: ca. 19 mm wingspan; forewing colour rather variable, ranging from an overall brownish shade to dark greyish-blue. Almost all specimens, however, retain the pale median streak across the wing, and in most specimens the dark spot on the base of the dorsum and the dark pre-tornal spot remain, the latter often broken into fragments. Hindwing in male bronze-fuscous at apex, more cream anally, grey on costa; the anal area folded, with a tuft of long pale scales and extending caudally as a lobe.
Egg: deposited between the veins on the lower surface of the leaves (on Moghania macrophylla).
Larva: 16-20 mm long; rather transparent uniform green or pale yellow; head flattened, red-brown, brownish or yellowish; prothoracic plate large, darker than head; spiracles small, rimmed with brown; setae dull white; first two pairs of legs black, third pair green or yellow.
Pupa: ca. 10 mm long; brown; dorsal portion of abdominal segments with two transverse rows of posteriorly-directed short spines; anal segment with four cremastral hooks which are entangled in the silken lining of the cocoon formed by a rolled leaf.
Taxonomic Description:
Male:
Dudua aprobola adults
External characters: ca. 19 mm wingspan. A moderately variable species as to the size, shape and markings. The forewing is usually narrow, dilated; apex and termen strongly rounded; termen oblique. Ground colour white to pale grey, retained in a pale median line across length of wing, more or less marbled with dark blue-grey on apical half; mixed with fuscous tending to form coarse transverse marbling anteriorly; costa narrowly deep purple, cut with numerous oblique, fine, white lines. Basal patch ill-defined, often indicated by a purple-black narrow mark on about 1/6 of dorsum; median fascia retained as a large deep fuscous suboval oblique spot on costa; pre-tornal marking conspicuous, small, fuscous-black, situated on 3/4 of dorsum, often broken into fragments. Hindwing bronze-fuscous at apex, more cream anally, grey on costa; the anal area folded, with a tuft of long pale scales and extending caudally as a lobe.
male genitalia Dudua aprobola
Genitalia: Tegumen weak; uncus a broad, subtruncate, hairy lobe. Socii long, densely but very finely haired. Base of tuba analis forming two aciculate lobes. Valva with slender sacculus; cucullus elongated, spined. Ventral margin of valva notched; neck of valva with group of setae costally. Aedeagus short, stout.
Female:
External characters: Forewing colour and markings as in male.
female genitalia Dudua aprobola
Genitalia: Ostium V-shaped; sterigma a strongly sclerotized, irregular thick collar joined to a posterior, rectangular, granular process (= lamella postvaginalis). Antrum narrow. Inception of ductus seminalis situated anterior to middle of ductus bursae. Signa two slender cones.
Biology:
Females deposit their eggs on the leaves of the food plant. After 3-4 days the eggs hatch. Larvae roll or web the leaves of the food plant together, feeding on them within this shelter. In India, they occur from July to November, with a peak in August. The larval period lasts 7-18 days. Pupation occurs inside a rolled leaf, which is lined by a thin layer of silk, and lasts 1-2 weeks.
Host plants:
Rosa, Mangifera indica, Lantana camara, Dahlia, Nephelium litchi, Cassia tora, Polyalthia longifolia, Mohania macrophylla, Lagerstroemia flos-reginae, Loranthus, Salix tetrasperma, Schleichera trijuga, Psidium guajava, Metrosideros collina , Metrosideros villosa, Eugenia jambos, Ficus sp., Anacardium (cashew).
Damage:
Dudua aprobola larvae roll young leaves or sometimes live in flowers.
Larvae defoliate new growth of litchi in New Caledonia, and other hosts in many families. On mango in the Cook Islands larvae are primarily attackers of the inflorescence.
Distribution:
Taiwan, Japan, Seychelles; Nepal; India; Sri Lanka; Maldive Is.; Burma; Thailand; W. Malaysia; Sumatra; Java; Bali; Brunei; Kalimantan; Philippines; Sulawesi; Buru; Ambon; New Guinea; D'Entrecasteaux Is.; Australia; Admiralty Is.; New Ireland; Caroline Is.; Gilbert Is; Fiji; Tonga; Samoa. Easily spread with cultivated pants (Robinson et al., 1994).
Pheromone:
Pheromone unknown.
Parasitoids:
Apophua sp. (Ichneumonidae)
Eriborus sp. (Ichneumonidae)
Apanteles spp. (Braconidae)
Goniozus sp. (Bethylidae)