Author: (Meyrick, 1906)
Species Overview:
Adult: 10-13 mm wingspan; forewing dark fuscous, finely irrorated with pale greyish-ochreous, with short bluish-leaden metallic striae arising from whitish interspaces between costal strigulae, becoming longer posteriorly, and a very faint dorsal blotch; ocellus laterally margined with leaden-metallic and marked with three black dashes. Hindwing dark fuscous, with blackish dorsal suffusion, lighter towards base.
Larva: head and prothoracic shield brown; abdomen greenish when young, becoming bright red when full-grown [Fulcrifera tricentra larvae ].
Pupa: brown; inside the gall or in a rolled leaf.
Taxonomic Description:
Male:
Fulcrifera tricentra male 1
Fulcrifera tricentra male 2
External characters: 10-13 mm wingspan; head and thorax rather dark fuscous, closely irrorated with ochreous-grey-whitish. Forewing elongate, not or only slightly dilated, costa gently arced, apex obtuse, termen slightly sinuate, little oblique. General colouration of forewing dark fuscous, finely irrorated with ochreous-grey-whitish, with indistinct darker transverse striae; interspaces between dark fuscous costal strigulae whitish, producing short bluish-leaden metallic striae, becoming longer posteriorly; a very faint, hardly paler, slightly leaden tinged, subtriangular blotch on middle of dorsum; ocellus laterally margined with leaden-metallic, marked with three black dashes. Cilia fuscous irrorated with whitish. Hindwing with dorsal fold; dark fuscous with blackish dorsal suffusion, lighter towards base. Cilia fuscous with darker sub-basal line (Meyrick, 1906).
male genitalia F. tricentra
male gen. Fulcrifera tricentra (variation)
Genitalia: Tegumen narrow, with tufts of long scales. Valva broad, both ventral and dorsal margin with slight notch before cucullus. Valva slightly variable in shape. Aedeagus slender, armed with long dentate process, originating from the anellus above the base of the coecum penis.
Female:
External characters: Forewing colouration and markings similar to male. Hindwing without dorsal fold and without blackish suffusion dorsally.
fem. gen. Fulcrifera tricentra
Genitalia: Sterigma a weakly sclerotized postvaginal plate; surrounding of ostium bursae sclerotic, edges of sclerite extending posteriorly. Ductus bursae slender; antrum not sclerotized; inception of ductus seminalis situated medially. Corpus bursae with two small signa.
Biology
Larvae bore into the shoots of the host plant, and form galls in which they feed, eventually causing top shoots to shrivel and die. Seeds are also attacked, particularly late in the season, and occasionally leaves are rolled. They hibernate from November to February, and then aestivate from March to June. They may be in the stem if the plants remain in the field or, if the pods are collected, the larvae form cocoons amongst the debris and remain there (Perrin and Ezeuh, 1978; Singh et al., 1990; Bainbrigge Fletcher, 1920)
Host plants:
Crotalaria juncea, Phaseolus mungo, Dolichos lablab, Dolichos biflorus, Tephrosia purpurea.
Damage:
attacked sannhemp shoot
Larvae bore into the shoots of sannhemp, Crotolaria juncea, and cause stem galls. They attack the crop while it is still young, about five or six inches high. The attack does not stop the growth of the plant. In later stages of the plant, the attack takes place at the axils of the leaves, where also a swelling is formed. In the latter case, the fibre is affected.
Distribution:
India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia (Java); probably also China. Records from South Africa are doubtful.
Pheromone:
Pheromone unknown.
Parasitoids:
Apanteles taragamae (Braconidae)
Bracon sp. (Braconidae)
Elasmus spp. (Chalcidae)
Elasmus homonae (Elasmidae)
Goniozus sp. (Bethylidae)