Pericyma cruegeri

Pericyma cruegeri, the poinciana looper, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1886. It is found in south-east Asia including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, the Philippines, New Guinea, and in Australia, northern New South Wales and Queensland. Furthermore, it is an introduced species in Hawaii and Guam, where it was first detected in 1971. In Japan, it was first detected in 1986 in Ishigaki Island and the living area is expanded to Okinawa Island by 2000.[1]

Poinciana looper
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Erebidae
Genus: Pericyma
Species:
P. cruegeri
Binomial name
Pericyma cruegeri
(Butler, 1886)
Synonyms
  • Homoptera cruegeri Butler, 1886

The wingspan is about 40 mm. Adults are brown with a complex pattern of dark lines and patches, and often with some white areas. They are very variable in coloration.

The larvae feed on the foliage of Caesalpiniaceae species, including Peltophorum pterocarpum and Delonix regia and can cause extensive damage. They feed communally at first but separate when older.

Pupation occurs in a cocoon covered in debris on the ground some distance from the food plant. The cocoon has a length of about 20 mm.

References
  1. "Forest insect pest damage occurrence situation in the Kyushu region in 2002". Forest and Forestry in Kyushu (in Japanese). National Institute of Forestry Research Kyushu Branch. 1 March 2003. Retrieved 18 December 2016.


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