Spoladea recurvalis

Spoladea recurvalis (Fabricius, 1775)
(one synonym: Hymenia exodias)
Beet Webworm
SPILOMELINI , PYRAUSTINAE , CRAMBIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley

(updated 7 February 2008)

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

This Caterpillar is brownish-green, with sparse white hairs, and a brown head. It lives and pupates communally in a silken web of leaves and frass on its foodplant. It is a pest on:

Silver Beet ( Swiss Chard: Beta vulgaris cicla, CHENOPODIACEAE ),

Beetroot (Beta vulgaris conditiva, CHENOPODIACEAE ),

and also feeds on:

Cockscomb ( Celosia, AMARANTHACEAE ),

Love-Lies-Bleeding ( Amaranthus caudatus, AMARANTHACEAE ),

and the weeds:

Vungaravasee ( Sesuvium portulacastrum, AIZOACEAE ), and

Largeseed Goosefoot ( Chenopodium macrospermum, CHENOPODIACEAE ).

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

The adult is black with two incomplete white stripes on each forewing, and a complete one across each hindwing. It has a wingspan of about 2 cms.

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

The species is found all over the world, including :

Denmark,

Hawaii, and

Midway Atoll,

and all over Australia, although it is commoner in the northern regions.