''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 ...

of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by

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

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 ...

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 p ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Sapindus trifoliatus ''Sapindus trifoliatus'', the South India soapnut or three-leaf soapberry, is a species of flowering plant in the family Sapindaceae, native to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, the Andaman Islands, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, and introduced to eastern tr ...

'', '' Pappea capensis'', ''

'', ''

Sapindus saponica ''Sapindus'' is a genus of about five to twelve species of shrubs and small trees in the lychee family, Sapindaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the world. The genus includes both deciduous and evergreen species. Membe ...

'', ''

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 trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is nati ...

'', '' Deinbollia oblongifolia'', ''

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 n ...

'', ''

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 Deinb ...

'', ''

Eucalyptus blobulus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including ''Corymbia'', they are commonly known as eucal ...

'', 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