''Syllepte retractalis'' 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 ...

in the family

Crambidae The Crambidae are the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies includ ...

. It was described by

George Hampson Sir George Francis Hampson, 10th Baronet (14 January 1860 – 15 October 1936) was an English entomologist. Hampson studied at Charterhouse School and Exeter College, Oxford. He travelled to India to become a tea-planter in the Nilgiri Hills ...

in 1912. It is found in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

and

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...

is about . The forewings are pale yellow, the costa and veins tinged with fulvous. The antemedial line is fuscous and oblique and there is a fuscous discoidal bar. The postmedial line is fuscous, slightly bent outwards between veins 5 and 2, then retracted to the lower angle of the cell, and oblique to the inner margin near the antemedial line. There is a fuscous terminal line. The hindwings are pale yellow with a fuscous discoidal spot and a fuscous postmedial line, bent outwards between veins 5 and 2, then retracted to the lower angle of the cell and oblique to above the tornus. There is also a fuscous terminal line. The larvae feed on ''

Cola nitida ''Cola nitida'' is a species of plant belonging to the family Malvaceae. It is a tree native to the rainforests of tropical West Africa. Common names include kola nut, cola, kola and bitter kola. The seeds contain caffeine and are chewed as a s ...

'' and ''

Theobroma cacao ''Theobroma cacao'', also called the cacao tree and the cocoa tree, is a small ( tall) evergreen tree in the family Malvaceae. Its seeds, cocoa beans, are used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate. The largest ...

''.

References

Moths described in 1912 retractalis Taxa named by George Hampson Moths of Africa {{Syllepte-stub