''Leucania loreyi'', the cosmopolitan, false army worm or nightfeeding rice armyworm, 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 ...

. It is found in most of African countries, the Indo-Australian subtropics and tropics of

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 ...

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 ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, the eastern

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

, and the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

and

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. The species was first described by

Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel (1774 – 10 January 1846) was a French soldier and entomologist. Life and career Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel was born in 1774 in Valenciennes, Nord, and died on 10 January 1846 in Paris. After studies ...

in 1827.

Description

Its wingspan is about 34–44 mm. Forewing greyish ochreous; the veins pale lined with brown, the intervals with brown lines; a short black streak from base below cell; median nervure thickly outlined with fuscous to beyond cell; reniform stigma indicated by a white dot at lower angle of cell; outer line by a row of black dots on veins; a triangular brown subapical patch edged above by an oblique pale streak from apex; hindwing white, the veins towards termen fuscous; abdominal tufts beneath formed of coarse scalelike brown black hairs.

Ecology

The larva is reddish grey, and yellowish between the segments and the dorsal line is fine, grey, and double. The subdorsal lines are divided, interrupted, and all clearer towards the anal segments. spiracles black-ringed. Adults are on wing year round. There are multiple generations per year. Recorded food plants in Israel include ''

Phragmites australis ''Phragmites australis'', known as the common reed, is a species of plant. It is a broadly distributed wetland grass that can grow up to tall. Description ''Phragmites australis'' commonly forms extensive stands (known as reed beds), which may ...

'', '' Sacharum ravennae'' and

Gramineae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...

species. Occasionally they are found on ornamental bamboo and once in an experimental rice field, a pest of winter cereals (wheat, barley) and summer cereals (corn, sorghum, sugar cane). Other recorded food plant include various grasses, such as ''

Oryza ''Oryza'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. It includes the major food crop rice (species ''Oryza sativa'' and ''Oryza glaberrima''). Members of the genus grow as tall, wetland grasses, growing to tall; the genus includes both annual an ...

'', ''

Paspalum ''Paspalum'' is a genus of plants in the grass family. The group is widespread across much of Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Commonly known as paspalum, bahiagrasses, crowngrasses or dallis grasses, many of the species are tall pere ...

'', ''

Saccharum ''Saccharum'' is a genus of tall perennial plants of the broomsedge tribe within the grass family. The genus is widespread across tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions in Africa, Eurasia, Australia, the Americas, and assorted ocean ...

'', ''

Triticum Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologica ...

'' and '' Zea'' species.

References

External links

*
Hadeninae of Israel

A Second Sugarcane Armyworm (''Leucania loreyi'' (Duponchel)) from Australia and the Identity of ''L. loreyimima'' Rungs (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

''Lepiforum e. V.''
{{Taxonbar , from=Q2418209 Leucania Moths described in 1827 Moths of Africa Moths of Asia Moths of Cape Verde Moths of Europe Moths of Japan Moths of Madagascar Moths of the Middle East Moths of Réunion Taxa named by Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel Insect pests of millets