Diversity of lepidopteran stem borers on monocotyledonous plants in eastern Africa and the islands of Madagascar and Zanzibar revisited

Abstract

Surveys were completed in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zanzibar to assess the lepidopteran stem borer species diversity on wild host plants. A total of 24,674 larvae belonging to 135 species were collected from 75 species of wild host plants belonging to the Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Typhaceae. Amongst them were 44 noctuid species belonging to at least nine genera, 33 crambids, 15 pyralids, 16 Pyraloidea species not yet identified, 25 tortricids and three cossids. The noctuid larvae represented 73.6% of the total number of larvae collected, with 66.3, 3.5 and 3.8% found on Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Typhaceae, respectively. The Crambidae, Pyralidae, Tortricidae and Cossidae represented 19.8, 1.9, 2.5 and 0.1% of the total larvae collected, respectively, with 90.4% of the Crambidae and Pyralidae collected from Poaceae, and 99.7% of the Tortricidae collected from Cyperaceae. The lepidopteran stem borer species diversity in the wild host plants was far more diverse than previously reported.

Phylogenetic analysis and systematics of the Acrapex unicolora Hampson species complex (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Apameini), with the description of five new species from the Afrotropics

“…As all recorded Acrapex larvae, the four Acrapex species of the A. unicolora group collected in the field as larvae came from host plants belonging to the Sesamia-like species as defined by Le Ru et al (2006b). They are morphologically similar, with ground colour pinkish buff, without any markings.…”

“…Sampling of visually damaged grasses (Poales) in Eastern and Southeastern Africa was conducted over ten years (2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014) to collect the larval stages of noctuid stem borers within their wild host plants (Le Ru et al 2006a, 2006b). Larvae were reared on an artificial diet (Onyango & Ochieng'Odero 1994) until pupation and the emergence of adults (Le Ru et al 2006aRu et al , 2006b.…”

“…Larvae were reared on an artificial diet (Onyango & Ochieng'Odero 1994) until pupation and the emergence of adults (Le Ru et al 2006aRu et al , 2006b. A total of 271 larvae belonging to the group of interest were sampled in the localities listed in Table 1.…”

“…Until recently, very little was known about Acrapex host preferences as specimens had been obtained mainly from light trap collections. Extensive surveys conducted since 2004 (Le Ru et al 2006Ru et al a, 2006bOng'amo et al 2006Ong'amo et al , 2013Ong'amo et al , 2014Ndemah et al 2007;Matama-Kauma et al 2008;Moolman et al 2014) in several sub-Saharan countries, targeting wild habitats rich in Poaceae and combining infested host plant collections and light traps, allowed us to obtain several hundred specimens of Acrapex. A recent study by Le Ru et al (2014) focused on a LE RU B. et al, Contribution to Acrapex systematics 3 small group of morphologically related species belonging to subsets of two (groups B and C) of the four morphological groups that have been defined by Berio (1973) based on male genitalia.…”

Integrative taxonomy of Acrapex stem borers (Lepidoptera : Noctuidae : Apameini): combining morphology and Poisson Tree Process analyses

“…Sampling of visually damaged grasses (Poaceae) in eastern and south-eastern Africa was conducted over eight years (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013) to collect the larval stages of noctuid stem borers within their wild host plants ( Le Ru et al 2006a, 2006b). Larvae were reared on artificial diet (Onyango and Ochieng'Odero 1994) until pupation and emergence of adults (Le Ru et al 2006aRu et al , 2006b.…”