LIBRARY

468 COLLEGE ENTOMOLOGY
Zeller, Anerastia Hubner. Cactoblastis Ragonot, Ephestia Guenee, Etiella Zeller.
Myelois Hubner, Plodia Guenee. and Phycita Curtis.
The Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella Hubner, is not only the most
injurious member of the family but one of the most important economic insects
known. The adulis are 7-9 mm. long and have a wing expanse of 20 mm.;
pale gray with the apical two thirds of the fore wings metallic coppery. Some
forms are ocherous with the tips of the fore wings reddish-brown. The eggs are
pearly white, oval, very minute, and laid singly or in small groups. Each
female may deposit from 300 to 400 eggs. The caterpillars vary in color and
are white, yellow, pink, or greenish with brown head and prothoracic shield.
When mature they attain a length of 18-20 mm. They feed on cereals and
cereal products, dried fruits, nuts, chocolate, and candies, and spin silken webs
throughout and over these objects. Breeding continues during the entire year
in favorable quarters, the life cycle requiring from 4 to 5 weeks. There are
from four to seven broods annually. It is cosmopolitan in distribution and has
been carried with commerce everywhere.
The Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kllhnieUa Zeller, expanse 24-26
mm., dark gray, is a cosmopolitan species found in flour mills, storehouses,
stores, ships, residences, or wherever are found the cereals and cereal products
upon which the larvre feed. The chocolate moth, E. elutella (Hubner), the fig
moth, E. cautella Walker, and the raisin moth, E. figuUella Gregson, are all
general feeders on stored vegetable food products and especially on cereals,
nuts, and dried fruits. They are all practically cosmopolitan, having been
calTied to all parts of the world. Members of the genus Anerastia are grass
moths in Australia. Myelois venipars Dyar may feed on injured or decayed
tissues of oranges in Arizona. The bean pod borer, Etiella zinckenella (Treitschke),
is a European species now widely distributed in Nort.h America and
Japan, and Fundella cistipennis Dyar is a similar species. Both of them attack
the developing seeds of beans, peas, and other legumes and are especially fond
of lima beans in America.
The remarkable cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) (Zophodia) , has
proved a very important beneficial species in the destruction and control of
at least portions of 60,000,000 acres of cacti or prickly pears. Opuntia inermis.
O. stricta, and other species which were introduced into Australia and took
possession of vast areas in New South Wales and Queensland. In 1925, 2,750
eggs of this moth were collected in Argentina and sent to Australia for colonization.
The moth at once became established, and the larVal fed upon the
cacti with such avidity and thoroughness that, with the aid of a fungus which
followed its bUITowings, the larval laid waste the obnoxious plants in large areas
and with some aid from man are restoring the impenetrable cactus thickets to
their original condition. As many as 300,000,000 eggs were collected and distributed
throughout the area from 1927 to 1929 (Sweetman, 1936). The adults
are whitish or ocherous with fuscous markings and an expanse of25 mm. The
eggs up to 150 are deposited in long chains on the host plants. The caterpillars
are orange-reddish with dark head, prothoracic Shield, and dorsal abdominal