Vol. 24 (1) (March 2021) Insect Environment
First record of teak defoliator, Hyblaea puera Cramer (Lepidoptera: Hyblaeidae) on Oroxylum indicum (Lamiales: Bignoniaceae) from south India
1M. Shankara Murthy, 2R. Lokesh, 3Doddabasawa and 4M. Bheemanna 1Department of Agricultural Entomology, 2Dean (Agri.), 3Department of Environmental Studies and Agro-forestry, College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi 585 287, 4Dean (Agri.), College of Agriculture, Raichur 584 104, India University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur 584 104, Karnataka, India Corresponding author: [email protected]
Hyblaea puera Cramer (Lepidoptera: Hyblaeidae) commonly-known as teak defoliator and is widely distributed throughout southern Asia. It is a polyphagous pest, recorded on 45 plant species across the world (www.plantwise.org). In India, this species was reported for the first time on Oroxylum indicum (Bignoniaceae) in Assam (Nath and Barman, 2002). O. indicum is a medium-sized deciduous tree, growing 8-12m tall. The roots, stem, and leaves of O. indicum arebeingused in traditional medicine for thousands of years to cure various diseases like allergies, urticaria, jaundice, asthma, sore throat, laryngitis, hoarseness, gastralgia, diarrhoea, dysentery, infantile, erythema and measles cough (Dev et al., 2010).
During our periodical visit to Green graduation plot at College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi, Karnataka, we noticed the incidence of H. puera on O. indicum. The neonate larva webbed the tender terminal leaves and fed within by scrapping the green tissues leading to the drying of leaves (Plate 1E-F). Later, larva webs the leaf margin and feed within (Plate 1G). As the larvae grew, they fed on entire leaves and caused defoliation of the plant. It caused about 50 percent defoliation of the plant (Plate 1H). After feeding, it pupated on the leaf in a thin silken cocoon (Plate 1C). To confirm the identity of the pest, larvae, and pupae were collected from infested plants and reared on O. indicum in the laboratory. Pupae were maintained in wooden cages. After emergence, adults were mounted and identified as H. puera (Plate 1D) using literature. In the previous report, Nath and Barman (2002) provided the biology of H. puera on O. indicum without life stage images. In the current paper, we provided images of life stages and damage symptoms (Plate 1). To our knowledge, this is the first record of this species on O. indicum from south India.
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A B
C D
E F
G H
Plate 1: Life stages and damaging symptoms of H. puera Cramer on O. indicum A) Egg; B) Grown-up larva; C) Pupa; D) Adult; E-H) damage symptoms
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References
Nath, R.K. and Barman, H.K. 2002. Oroxylum indicum, new host record ofHyblaea puera (Cramer) (Hyblaeidae, Lepidoptera) from Assam India. Insect Environment, 8 (2): 84-85.
Dev, L.R., Anurag, M. and Rajiv, G. 2010. Oroxylum indicum: A Review. Phcog.net.,2 (9): 304- 310. www. Plantwise.org
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