Guava Moth

Description:

Erebidae; Erebinae; Ophiusini; Ophiusa disjungens (Walker, 1858). Having seen many pictures of this species on the internet, I attempted from time to time to take some photos of my own for my collection. Although these moths were common in our area, the pictures I took were never very good. The moths were always rather ragged and worn looking when I spotted them. So I resolved to do something about it. I waited patiently until I saw some larvae on our Guava Tree and I collected two of them and brought them home to rear in captivity. I fed them on plenty of fresh Guava leaves every day until they pupated. When they eventually emerged, I saw how lucky I had been. I had two fine looking moths and (what were the chances?) I had one male and one female. My pictures, in order are: #1 the Female #2 the Male #3 one of the larvae and #4 an older picture just to show the difference between a poor tattered specimen and the fine, newly eclosed specimens.

Habitat:

Several Ophiusa disjungens larvae were spotted on a Guava Tree behind the rice mill. They are regularly seen on this tree and eat much of the foliage, but this hardy tree seems to survive. The damage to the foliage was of no consequence to me, but I can imagine that if I were growing Guava commercially, it would be a significant problem.

Notes:

The captive reared specimens were brought back to their original habitat and released on the day they emerged.