Vol. 22 (September 2020) Insect Environment Field incidence of hawk moth in mungbean M. Sesha MahaLakshmi, M. Sreekanth and M.V. Ramana Regional Agricultural Research Station, Lam, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, Pin-522007, India. Corresponding author: [email protected] Greengram (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) is the most important short duration pulse crop of India and occupies an area of about 4.25 m.ha with a production of 2.40 m.t and 567 kg ha-1 productivity and Andhra Pradesh is one of the major state in India with highest productivity of 613 kg ha-1 (AICRP on MULLaRP, 2019). It is a highly remunerative crop grown in kharif as well as in rabi both in uplands and rice fallows in Andhra Pradesh and a large number of insects have been recorded on this crop from sowing to harvesting. Severe and unusual incidence of Death’s head hawk moth, Acherontia styx Westwood larvae was recorded in mungbean for the first time in experimental plots at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Lam, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh during kharif, 2019. Small death’s head hawk moth, A. styx is found primarily in India and Southeast Asia which is easily noticeable for skull-like marking on the thorax dorsum of adult moths. The adult is a large moth with dark dull brown forewing and yellow hind wing (Hill, 2008). It is polyphagous pest which feed more than 100 species of plants in various families such as Labiatae, Bignoniaceae, Verbenaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Solanaceae, Myrtaceae, Convolvulaceae, Oleaceae, Leguminosae, Pedaliaceae and others (Robinson et al., 2010). Large number of hawk moth larvae (Plate.1) was observed for a short period of two weeks from the end of August, 2019 after continuous heavy rainfall when the crop was at vegetative phase. Larvae were bright green in colour with a horn like structure which is straight and yellowish in colour on the dorsal side of the final abdominal segment. There are seven sharply defined yellow oblique lateral stripes on 5 to 11 abdominal segments, each stripe extending upwards and slanty to near the dorsal line of the each segment and the yellow stripe on 11 abdominal segment extended backwards to the base of the horn. The true legs are black in colour, while prolegs and claspers are green in colour (Bell & Scott, 1937). Nine pairs of spiracles were found which are oval, brownish with the central white slit, the whole bordered with whitish green circle. Mostly fourth and fifth instar larvae were found on leaves and caused severe leaf damage by eating the lamina by causing irregular patches on leaves (Plate.2). However, foliar application of a contact insecticide could control the hawk moth larvae effectively. 26 Vol. 22 (September 2020) Insect Environment Plate 1: Hawk moth larvae on mungbean Plate 2: Large irregular patches on leaves due to hawk moth larvae 27 Vol. 22 (September 2020) Insect Environment References: AICRP on MULLaRP (2019) Project Coordinators report, 2019-20. Pp.48. Bell, T.R.D. and Scott, F.B. (1937). Moths, Vol. 5, Sphingidae. In: Sewell RBS, ed. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. London, UK: Taylor & Francis. Hill, D. S. (2008). Pests of Crops in Warmer Climates and Their Control. Springer Science and Business Media LLC, New York. Robinson, G.S., Ackery, P.R., Kitching, I.J., Beccaloni, G.W. and Hernández, L.M. (2010). HOSTS – A database of the world’s lepidopteran hostplants. Natural History Museum, London. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosts. 28 .