These two leopard-spotted magpie moths, Zerenopsis leopardina, were seen in Ilchester Road last week.
These two leopard-spotted magpie moths, Zerenopsis leopardina, were seen in Ilchester Road last week.
Rhodes University Professor of Entomology, Martin Villet identified them for Grocott’s Mail. He said their populations thrive intermittently and that they are more noticeable in some years than others.
Villet forwarded our team a piece originally published in the East Cape Herald in 1998, which said the adult moth can be identified by its dashing orange and black spots.
His published work in 1998 also noted that cycads in Grahamstown and on campus had been attacked by a caterpillar. The caterpillar, the larval stage of the leopard-spotted magpie moth covers the new leaves in droppings and consumes most of the new growth, leaving just a stump.
Villet explained how the adult moths are attracted to the cycads by the smell of volatile chemical compounds emitted from the leaves and females can lay about 40 bright eggs in clumps on soft, new leaves. This wonder of nature belongs to the inchworm family (Geometridae) and has several relatives in South Africa that also feed on cycads.
Despite rumours that the species originated in China, it is in fact indigenous to the Eastern Cape and southern KwaZulu-Natal, spreading to the lowveld.
There are several ways to control their effects on your cycads. Because the adults prefer to fly during the day, a cheap control method is to catch them as they visit the plants during the day.
