''Sesamia grisescens'', the pink sugarcane borer, pink stalk borer, shoot borer, sugarcane borer or ramu shoot borer, is a

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

of the family

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family (biology), family of moths. Taxonomically, they are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly ...

. The species was first described by Warren in 1911. It is found in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

Seram Seram (formerly spelled Ceram; also Seran or Serang) is the largest and main island of Maluku province of Indonesia, despite Ambon Island's historical importance. It is located just north of the smaller Ambon Island and a few other adjacent i ...

, the

Moluccas The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesi ...

and

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

. The larvae are a pest on ''

Saccharum officinarum ''Saccharum officinarum'' is a large, strong-growing species of grass in the sugarcane genus. Its stout stalks are rich in sucrose, a disaccharide sugar which accumulates in the stalk internodes. It originated in New Guinea, and is now cultivate ...

'', although they also feed on other plants, including ''

Saccharum robustum ''Saccharum robustum'', the robust cane, is a species of plant found in New Guinea. Ecology ''Eumetopina flavipes'', the island sugarcane planthopper, a species of planthopper present throughout South East Asia which is a vector for the sugarca ...

'', ''

Saccharum spontaneum ''Saccharum spontaneum'' (wild sugarcane, kans grass) is a grass native throughout much of tropical and subtropical Asia, northern Australia, and eastern and northern Africa. It is a perennial grass, growing up to three meters in height, with s ...

'', ''

Saccharum edule ''Saccharum edule'' is a species of sugarcane, that is a grass in the genus '' Saccharum'' with a fibrous stalk that is rich in sugar. It is cultivated in tropical climates in southeastern Asia. It has many common names which include duruka, tebu ...

'', ''

Pennisetum purpureum ''Cenchrus purpureus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Pennisetum purpureum'', also known as Napier grass, elephant grass or Uganda grass, is a species of perennial tropical grass native to African grasslands. arrell, G., Simons, S. A., & Hillock ...

'' and ''Panicum maximum''.

References

Hadeninae">Panicum maximum">arrell, G., Simons, S. A., & Hillock ...