''Olepa ricini'' is a moth 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'') ...

first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. It is found in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, 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 ...

. An older treatment placed the species in the genus ''

Pericallia ''Arctia '' is species of tiger moth in the family Erebidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. It can be found in central and eastern Europe, Kazakhstan, southern Siberia, northern Mongoli ...

''.

Description

It closely resembles the much less distributed ''

Olepa ocellifera ''Olepa ocellifera'' is a moth of the family Erebidae first described by Francis Walker in 1855. It is found in India and Sri Lanka. Description Ths species closely resembles the much more widely distributed ''Olepa ricini ''Olepa ricini ...

'', and differs only in the lack of a chain like series of small yellow banded black spots in between large spots in forewings, which are present in ''O. ocellifera''. In ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths Volume II'', Hampson discussed both species as follows: It is a minor pest, as a caterpillar, on cotton, castor, sunflower, gingelly, maize, ivy gourd, brinjal, sweetpotato, banana and ''Cucurbita'' crops.

References

Spilosomina Moths described in 1775 Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius {{Spilosomina-stub