''Perina nuda'', the clearwing tussock moth or banyan tussock 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 1787. It is found in the

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 ...

n subregion,

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 ...

, to southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

and

Sundaland Sundaland (also called Sundaica or the Sundaic region) is a biogeographical region of South-eastern Asia corresponding to a larger landmass that was exposed throughout the last 2.6 million years during periods when sea levels were lower. It ...

Description

Adults show striking sexual dimorphism. The caterpillar has a greyish head and flanks, with the broad black dorsum. Setae are white. Pupa is bristly, piebald in dark grey and cream. Setae in pupa orange. The caterpillar is a minor pest on several banyan species such as '' Ficus benjamina'', '' Ficus benghalensis'', '' Ficus racemosa'', ''

Ficus pumila ''Ficus pumila'', commonly known as the creeping fig or climbing fig, is a species of flowering plant in the mulberry family, native to East Asia (China, Japan, Vietnam) and naturalized in parts of the southeastern and south-central United Stat ...

'' and ''

Ficus religiosa ''Ficus religiosa'' or sacred fig is a species of Ficus, fig native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina that belongs to Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family. It is also known as the bodhi tree, pippala tree, peepul tree, peepal tree, pipa ...

''. and also many crop plants like '' Artocarpus'' and ''

Mangifera ''Mangifera'' is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. It contains approximately 69 species, with the best-known being the Common Mango (''Mangifera indica''). The center of diversity of the genus is in the Malesian ec ...

''. The species is associated with an

RNA virus An RNA virus is a virusother than a retrovirusthat has ribonucleic acid (RNA) as its genetic material. The nucleic acid is usually single-stranded RNA ( ssRNA) but it may be double-stranded (dsRNA). Notable human diseases caused by RNA viruses ...

called ''Perina nuda virus''.

Images

A46-20160119-041 (25877573195).jpg, Male dorsal surface A43-20140924-149 (15544527917).jpg, Female dorsal surface Banyan tussock moth (24582480925).jpg, Live moth in side angle Perina nuda (24172752419).jpg, Antennae of male Perina nuda moth pupa.jpg, Pupa

References

External links

Semiochemicals of ''Perina nuda'', the Clearwing tussock moth
''The Pherobase''.

Research articles

The complete genome sequence of ''Perina nuda'' picorna-like virus, an insect-infecting RNA virus with a genome organization similar to that of the mammalian picornaviruses.''Perina nuda virus''Life history of the ''Perina nuda'' (Fabricius) and virus production of the infected pupaeContinuous Cell line from Pupal Ovary of ''Perina nuda'' (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) That Is Permissive to Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus from ''P. nuda''A ''Perina nuda'' cell line (NTU-Pn-HF) from pupal ovary that is persistently infected with a picorna-like virus (PnPV)Characterization of a multiple-nucleocapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus isolated from ''Perina nuda'' (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) larvaeThe 5′ untranslated region of ''Perina nuda virus'' (PnV) possesses a strong internal translation activity in baculovirus-infected insect cells
Moths of Asia Moths described in 1865 {{Lymantriidae-stub