Hyblaea puera (Cramer, 1777)
(one synonym: Nabara saga)
Teak Defoliator
HYBLAEIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
and
Ian F.B. Common & Stella Crossley

(updated 6 September 2007)


(Photo from: Moths of Australia)

The Caterpillars of this species are brown with a pair of narrow yellow lines along each side enclosing a dark brown band. The Caterpillar is a pest overseas on :

  • Teak ( Tectona grandis, VERBENACEAE ),

    and they also feed on :

  • White Mangrove ( Avicennia marina, AVICENNIACEAE ),
  • Bignonia species ( BIGNONIACEAE ),
  • Catalpa species ( BIGNONIACEAE ),
  • Cork Tree ( Millingtonia hortensis, BIGNONIACEAE ),
  • Spathodea species ( BIGNONIACEAE ), and
  • Vitex trifolia ( VERBENACEAE ).

    The eggs are laid on the undersides of the leaves. The Caterpillar cuts a semicircular piece of leaf and folds or rolls it over to form a shelter. The mature Caterpillar often lives in this shelter by day, and feeds nocturnally.


    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

    The adult moth has a wing span of about 4 cms. It is brown with a yellow arc or series of blotches on each hind wing.


    underside

    Underneath, the forewings are brown with two yellow marks on the costa of each forewing, and orange under each hindwing with a dark mark at the tornus.

    The eggs are laid singly, on the underside of young foodplant leaves, often near the central vein.

    The species is known across south-east Asia, including

  • Bangladesh,
  • India,
  • New Guinea,
  • Thailand, as well as
  • north Queensland,

    and has recently been reported Central America and Africa, including :

  • Guadeloupe,
  • Surinam.

    The species appears to migrate with the Monsoon winds. Efforts are being made to control the pest using :

  • Neem Extract,
  • the insecticides Deltamethrin, Cypermethrin, and Monocrotophos,
  • a Nucleopolyhedrovirus (HpNPV),
  • the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis ( BACILLACEAE ),
  • the Fungi Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae, and
  • a wasp Sympiesis species ( EULOPHIDAE ).

    although these may be of little value given the migratory behaviour of the moths.

    Further reading :

    M.W.Baksha and M.J. Crawley,
    Population dynamics of teak defoliator, Hyblaea puera Cram. (Lep., Hyblaeidae) in teak plantations of Bangladesh, Journal of Applied Entomology, Volume 122, no. 2-3 (1998) pp. 79-83

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pp. 334, 336-337.

    S. Lakanavichian and B. Napompeth,
    Ecological study on teak defoliators, Hyblaea puera and Eutectona machaeralis in Thailand, Proceedings IUFRO Workshop on Pests and Diseases of Forest Plantations, Bangkok (Thailand), 5-11 Jun 1988 Chaweewan Hutacharern, K.G. MacDicken, M.H.Ivory, and K.S.S. Nair (eds.), International Union of Forestry Research Organizations, Vienna (Austria); Royal Forest Dept., Bangkok (Thailand); FAO, Bangkok (Thailand). Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 1990, p. 155-166.

    K.S.S. Nair and V.V. Sudheendrakumar,
    The teak defoliator, Hyblaea puera: Defoliation dynamics and evidence for short-range migration of moths, Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences (Animal Sciences), Volume 95, no. 1 (1986), pp. 7-21.

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