''Mangina argus'', the crotalaria podborer, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings ('' Catocala'') ...

. The species was first described by

Vincenz Kollar Vincenz Kollar (15 January 1797 in Kranowitz, Silesia – 30 May 1860 in Vienna) was an Austrian entomologist who specialised in Diptera. He was especially concerned with species of economic interest, particularly those of forests. Kollar describe ...

in 1847. It is found in south-east Asia, including

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

, from southern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

, the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Description

Adults with pinkish or brownish red head, thorax and forewing. Two black yellow-ringed spots on collar, two spots on tegula. and three spots on thorax. The collar outlined with brilliant scarlet. Abdomen scarlet with black spots on dorsal, ventral and two paired lateral series. Forewing with six transverse series of yellow-ringed black spots, each series curved, irregularly disposed and variable as to size and number, the postmedial series bifurcating towards the costa. Hindwings also scarlet with one black spot at end of cell, another spot at origin of vein 2, another spot at its middle, and a submarginal series. There is a few small spots on margin, all these being somewhat variable. Larva purple-black with a few dorsal hairs. Head and a lateral line from 4th to 10th somites are reddish. A dorsal series of transverse white streaks. It is a minor pest, where the larvae feed on the young leaves of ''

Crotalaria ''Crotalaria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae (subfamily Faboideae) commonly known as rattlepods. The genus includes over 700 species of herbaceous plants and shrubs. Africa is the continent with the majority of ''Crotalar ...

'' species, including ''

Crotalaria juncea ''Crotalaria juncea'', known as brown hemp, Indian hemp, Madras hemp, or sunn hemp, is a tropical Asian plant of the legume family (Fabaceae). It is generally considered to have originated in India.Heuzé V., Thiollet H., Tran G., Lebas F., 201 ...

''. They feed in groups. They bore into the pods and sometimes injure the bark. Pupation takes place in a loosely woven web or within the fold of a leaf. Pupa brownish-orange colored with black spots.

References

External links

''The Review of Applied Entomology: Agricultural'', Volume 18
* Nyctemerina Moths of Asia Fauna of the Himalayas Fauna of Tibet Taxa named by Vincenz Kollar Moths described in 1847 {{Nyctemerina-stub