Cup Plant Terminal Moth taxonomically undetermined
amended
07 August 2009
Larvae are active and feeding
heavily on new leaves, bract, and bore through buds feeding on the
hypanthium, ovaries, and tender bracts. This feeding continues
during the stem elongation phase
and flowering. In some years the larval predation on buds
of is severe enough that an entire annual seed production is lost from
a plant, or much of a field of farmed plants. The eggs of this
species are undescribed, and the number of instars and duration of
stadia are unknown. The pupation site remains unknown but is
thought to be either in soil or leaf litter at the base of the plants.
Adults are as yet unknown, which is peculiar given the abundance
of larvae and that no other moth is common in cup plant fields other than
the Giant eucosma, a root feeder. So far, no parasitoids of this caterpillar are known.
