Fauna Details

Common Name Agapanthus Borer
Family Depressariidae
Date Observed 02-11-2022
Category Insects
Catalogue No. Z6053
Breeding/ Spawning Time Spring,Summer
When Observed DAYTIME
Locations Observed
Estuary
Koppie
Nature Reserve
Small Holding
Village Few,Many
Greater Rooiels

Neuranethes spodopterodes

Information

Agapanthus Borer

 Source: Wikipedia



Neuranethes spodopterodes is a moth in the family Noctuidaesubfamily Hadeninae.
Although it was described at the start of the 20th century, the moth and its habits were little
known. It turns out that the adults have vestigial mouthparts and do not feed before they die, but the larvae fed on species of Agapanthus.
However, although the larvae are voracious feeders, the species seems to have done so little harm
as to have escaped notice, presumably because of natural control by parasitoids. Early in the 21st century however, it emerged as a serious
horticultural pest of popular species of Agapanthus in regions where neither the moth nor the plants occurred spontaneously.
It seems that the moth had been translocated accidentally in horticultural stock and that the natural enemies had not been imported at the same time. Its very
voracity combined with its monophagous feeding habits have however suggested that it might prove to be a valuable biological control
of invasive Agapanthus in countries such as New Zealand.