''Serrodes partita'', the catapult moth, 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

Johan Christian Fabricius Johan Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is cons ...

in 1775. It is found in western, eastern, central and southern Africa,

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 ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

(Borneo, Java) 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

The wingspan of the adults is approximately 60 mm. Head, thorax and forewings dark or red or greyish brown. Forewings with a sub-basal dark red-brown spot on the costa, with a line from its lower edge. A similar antemedial spot and large lunule found below the cell with a highly excurved line from its lower edge. Reniform broken up into a number of tessellated spots with pale edges, and with rufous marks on the costa above it. A double straight postmedial line angled below the costa. Abdomen and hindwings are fuscous. Hindwings have traces of a medial pale line. Cilia paler at apex and anal angle. They feed on plants such as ''

Prunus persica ''Prunus'' is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes (among many others) the fruits plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds. Native to the North American temperate regions, the neotropics of South America, and the ...

'', ''

Sapindus saponaria ''Sapindus saponaria'' is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree native to the Americas. Common names include wingleaf soapberry, western soapberry, jaboncillo, sullukuLouis Girault, ''Kallawaya - guérisseurs itinérants des Andes. Recherches s ...

'', '' Sapindus trifoliatus'', ''

Pappea capensis ''Pappea capensis'' is a South African tree in the family Sapindaceae. It is the only species in the genus ''Pappea''. Common names Common names include Jacket plum, Indaba tree and bushveld cherry. In other languages, it is known as: ' (Afrik ...

'', ''

'', '' Sapindus saponica'', ''

Grewia occidentalis ''Grewia occidentalis'', the crossberry, is a small, hardy, attractive tree indigenous to Southern Africa. Description A small, scrambling, deciduous tree reaching a height of about 3 m, its purple, star-shaped flowers appear in summer, ...

'', ''

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...

'', ''

Deinbollia oblongifolia ''Deinbollia oblongifolia'' is a shrub or small tree in the family Sapindaceae. It is commonly known as the dune soap-berry and is found in coastal vegetation from the Eastern Cape of South Africa, through KwaZulu-Natal to southern Mozambiqu ...

'', ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

'', ''

Deinbollia pinnata ''Deinbollia'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Sapindaceae. Its native range is tropical and Southern Africa and islands in the western Indian Ocean. Its genus name of ''Deinbollia'' is in honour of Peter Vogelius Deinbol ...

'', '' Eucalyptus blobulus'', and ''

Leptospermum laevigatum ''Leptospermum laevigatum'', commonly known as the coast tea tree, is a species of shrub or small tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia, but has been widely introduced in other places where it is often considered to be a weed. It has th ...

''.

References

Serrodes Moths described in 1775 Moths of Cape Verde Moths of Africa Moths of Réunion Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius {{Cocytiini-stub

Description

See also

References