BAGWORM MOTH - ENVIRONMENT
News: New
genus and species of bagworm moth discovered in Kerala
What's in the news?
● A
new genus and species of bagworm moth Capulopsyche keralensis has been
discovered from the coffee plantations of Kerala.
Key takeaways:
● The
genus and species was named Capulopsyche keralensis.
● Capulo
means coffee and psyche means moth or butterfly. The name therefore translates
as ‘Coffee moth of Kerala’ as it was
found from coffee plantations of Nariyampara and Nelliyampathy”.
● The
discovery has been published in Zootaxa, an international scientific journal
animal taxonomy and natural history on March 29, 2023. The same team of
researchers had earlier rediscovered and redescribed Acanthopsyche alstoni Watt
& Mann, a psychid, and described a new bagworm species Eumasia thomasii.
Features:
● Capulopsyche
keralensis belongs to the moth family
psychidae, which consists of very small moths.
● It
is characterised by case-building behaviour of larvae and a high degree of sexual dimorphism.
● Females
of many psychid species never develop into a moth and retain larval appearance.
● The
larval cases are elongated tube-like, wrapped with an outer sheath made up of
bark tissues from the trees.
● Larva
feeding on lower plants on the trunk of coffee plants.