Ephysteris promptella

Ephysteris promptella
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Gelechiidae
Genus:	Ephysteris
Species:	E. promptella
Binomial name
Ephysteris promptella (Staudinger, 1859)[1]
Synonyms
Gelechia promptella Staudinger, 1859 Epithectis petiginella Mann, 1867 Ephysteris petiginella Ephysteris promptella australiae Povolny 1977 Aristotelia cacomicra Walsingham 1907 Ephysteris chersaea Meyrick, 1908 ?Epiphthora crystallista Meyrick, 1911 Phthorimaea dispensata Meyrick 1921 Ephysteris oschophora Meyrick 1910 Metzneria xanthorhabda Gozmany 1951 Doryphora parvula Staudinger, 1879 Phthorimaea fanatica Meyrick, 1921 Ephysteris despectella Walker, 1863

Ephysteris promptella, the ratoon shootborer, is a moth of the Gelechiidae family. It is a pantropical species, found in the warmer parts of the Old World tropics to Australia. It is widely distributed in southern Europe (ranging to Slovakia in the north).^[2]

The wingspan is 8–10 mm.^[3] Adults are greyish brown. Males are smaller and have black dots, while females have white flecks.^[4]

The larvae feed on Andropogon, Oryza, Panicum, Saccharum officinarum, Sorghum, Stipa, Triticum and Zea mays. They bore the shoots of their host plant.^[5] Full-grown larvae reach a length of about 5 mm.^[6] Pupation takes place in a cocoon covered in frass which is made in debris on the soil surface.

References

1. Fauna Europaea
2. Junnilainen, J. et al. 2010: The gelechiid fauna of the southern Ural Mountains, part II: list of recorded species with taxonomic notes (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). Zootaxa, 2367: 1–68. Preview
3. lepiforum.de
4. Australian Insects
5. bladmineerders.nl
6. http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/gele/prompt.html