''Chloridea subflexa'' 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

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other f ...

first described by

Achille Guenée Achille Guenée (sometimes M.A. Guenée; 1 January 1809 – 30 December 1880) was a French lawyer and entomologist. Biography Achille Guenée was born in Chartres and died in Châteaudun. He was educated in Chartres, where he showed a very e ...

in 1852. It is found from most of the United States, throughout the

Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...

, and south to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The larvae feed exclusively on fruits of ''

Physalis ''Physalis'' (, , , , from φυσαλλίς ''phusallís'' "bladder") is a genus of approximately 75 to 90 flowering plants in the Solanum, nightshade family (biology), family (Solanaceae), which are native to the Americas and Australasia. At l ...

'' species, which are enclosed in an inflated, lantern-shaped calyx. To feed, each newly emerged caterpillar cuts a small hole in the calyx and then bores into the fruit. Once inside, the caterpillar spends the majority of its time sheltered inside of the fruit's husk. ''Chloridea subflexa'' was formerly a member of the genus ''

Heliothis ''Heliothis'' is a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae. It was first described by Ferdinand Ochsenheimer in 1816. Some of the species have larvae which are agricultural pests on crop species such as tobacco, cotton, soybean and pigeon pea. So ...

'', but was moved to the reinstated genus ''Chloridea'' as a result of genetic and morphological research published in 2013. The MONA or Hodges number for ''Chloridea subflexa'' is 11070.

References

External links

Determinants of host use and fitness of ''Heliothis subflexa'', a specialized herbivore

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Large moths of Guana Island, British Virgin Islands: a survey of efficient colonizers (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae, Notodontidae, Noctuidae, Arctiidae, Geometridae, Hyblaeidae, Cossidae)
Heliothinae {{Heliothinae-stub