Cometaster

Faint owl moth
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Superfamily:
Noctuoidea
Family:
Erebidae
Subfamily:
Erebinae
Tribe:
Hypopyrini
Genus:
Cometaster

Hampson, 1913
Species:
C. pyrula
Binomial name
Cometaster pyrula
(Hopffer, 1857)
Synonyms

Generic

Specific

  • Spirama pyrula Hopffer, 1858
  • Spirama lucidus Felder, 1874
  • Spirama lucida

Cometaster is a monotypic moth genus of the family Erebidae erected by George Hampson in 1913.[1] Its only species, Cometaster pyrula, the faint owl moth or ying-yang moth, was first described by Carl Heinrich Hopffer in 1857.[2][3]

Distribution

It is found in Eastern and Southern Africa, mainly in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.[2]

Biological control agent

In October 2004, as part of a biological control project, larvae of this moth from South Africa were released in Queensland, Australia, in order to keep under control the type of acacia Acacia nilotica subsp. indica, a major invasive species in the Mitchell Grass Downs.[4]

References

  1. ^ Savela, Markku (August 2, 2019). "Cometaster Hampson, 1913". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Cometaster pyrula (Hopffer, 1857)". African Moths. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  3. ^ Pitkin, Brian & Jenkins, Paul (November 5, 2004). "Genus details: Cometaster". Butterflies and Moths of the World. Natural History Museum, London. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  4. ^ Rangaswamy Muniappan, Gadi V. P. Reddy & Anantanarayanan Raman (eds.), Biological Control of Tropical Weeds Using Arthropods, Cambridge University Press 2009, pg. 26
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