Image: Hyblaea puera at Kadavoor

Description: English: Hyblaea puera, commonly known as the Teak Defoliator, is a moth native to Southeast Asia. The species has also been recently reported to be present in Central America and Africa. The caterpillar feeds on teak and other species of trees common in the region. The adult moths are comparatively small, with a wing span of 3 – 4 cm, and have a characteristic resting posture that conceals the black and orange-yellow hind wings under the grayish-brown fore-wings. Males and females emerge more or less simultaneously and mating takes place within a couple of days. Eggs are laid on tender new leaves, placed singly near the veins, and usually on the undersurface. They are oval, flat, and white and measure about 1 mm in length. About 500 eggs are laid per female with a recorded maximum of 1000. Larvae hatch in about 2 days. There are five larval instars. The first and second instars mainly feed on the leaf surface. Starting with the third instar, the larva cuts out a leaf flap, usually at the edge of the leaf, folds it over, fastens it with silk, and feeds from within. The entire leaf, excluding the major veins of tender leaves, is eaten, but more veins are left in older leaves. Under the optimal conditions, the larval period lasts 10–12 days. The full grown larva measures about 3.5 – 4.5 cm, and there is considerable color variation in the fourth and fifth instars; the body may be either wholly black or dark grayish to black, with longitudinal colored bands may include a dorsal orange or ocherous band and lateral white lines. A recent study revealed revealed the existence of density-dependent colour polyphenism and resistance build-up against invading baculovirus by H. puera larvae. The mature larvae descend to the ground on silken threads and pupate under a thin layer of leaf litter or soil, within loosely built cocoons made of dry or decayed leaves, or soil particles held together with silk. Pupation may some times occur within green leaves of other plants in the under growth, folded or juxtaposed with silk. On Avicennia plants the caterpillars pupate inside the cases made out of the host plant leaves itself. It is probably an adaptive trait acquired by the species for surviving in the hostile mangrove environment, since the pupation is not possible in the muddy and inundated soils of mangroves. The average pupal period lasts six to eight days under optimal conditions. There is no evidence of hibernation or aestivation of pupa. The teak defoliator is present the year round in teak plantations, but in varying population densities. During the period of natural defoliation of teak (November, December, January), the pest density is very low (endemic). Every year high intensity outbreaks of teak defoliator occurs immediately after the pre monsoon showers in late February or early march in Kerala. These centers are highly localized outbreaks which represents the transitional stage between very sparse endemic population and high density outbreak population. These centers will be 5,000 to 15,000 square metres in area and are characterized by heavy tree top infestation. The months of April, may, June and July witness a series of large outbreaks. During late July or September, the population declines to the endemic level. In some years, there will be fresh outbreaks during the month of October. From then on until the next year, the population remains at the endemic level.
Title: Hyblaea puera at Kadavoor
Credit: Own work
Author: Jeevan Jose, Kerala, India
Permission: "Hyblaea puera at Kadavoor" © 2010 Jee & Rani Nature Photography is used here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License I, Jeevan Jose, Kerala, India, have published this media under the terms of the license CC BY-SA 4.0 which grant you to (subject to the terms and conditions of that public license): to Share — reproduce and share the licensed material, in whole or in part to Adapt — produce, reproduce, and share adapted material Under these conditions: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit. To do so add ""Hyblaea puera at Kadavoor" © 2010 Jee & Rani Nature Photography is used here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License" context to the licensed material, reasonable to medium you are using. It is reasonable to satisfy these conditions by providing a URI or hyperlink to a resource that includes the required information (for example, to this page). You must indicate if you modified the material and retain an indication of previous modifications. See the example below or refer best practices. (Please note that Wikimedia Commons/Wikipedia do NOT own my work in any way, shape, or form. So attributing to them omitting "Jee & Rani Nature Photography" is a violation of the license terms.) ShareAlike — If you produce and share adapted material, the adapter’s license you apply must be a CC BY-SA 4.0, this version or later with the same license elements, or a BY-SA compatible license. You must include the text of, or the URI or hyperlink to, the adapter's license you apply. (I prefer you too share the adapted material with the same license; but happy to waive the ShareAlike clause if the situation demands it.) Exceptions, Limitations, and Disclaimer of Warranties Exceptions and Limitations: Non-copyright restrictions: Moral and Personality rights: Moral rights, such as the right of integrity, are not licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, nor are publicity, privacy, and other similar personality rights. Patent and trademark rights: Patent and trademark rights are not licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. The use here does not imply that you may use it for any purpose other than for the same or a similar informational use as here. So you must collect explicit permission from the respective right holders, if required. Jurisdiction and legality of content: Publication of this media may be in violation of the laws of the country or jurisdiction from where you are viewing this information. I do not encourage the violation of any laws, and cannot be responsible for any violations of such laws, should you link to this media or use, reproduce or republish it. Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability: I, the Licensor, to the extent possible, offer the Licensed Material as-is and as-available, and makes no representations or warranties of any kind concerning the Licensed Material, whether express, implied, statutory, or other. This includes, without limitation, warranties of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, absence of latent or other defects, accuracy, or the presence or absence of errors, whether or not known or discoverable. Read the full legal code. The human-readable deed is a summary of, but not a replacement for, the legal code. It does not explain everything you need to know before using the licensed material. This deed highlights only some of the key features and terms of the actual license. It is not a license and has no legal value. You should carefully review all of the terms and conditions of the actual license before using the licensed material. I can't offer you any legal advice. See the General Disclaimer, Terms of Use and Reuser's Guide for more information. Please seek a professional advice for the avoidance of doubt, where exceptions and limitations apply to your use, and this Public License does not apply. The disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability provided above shall be interpreted in a manner that, to the extent possible, most closely approximates an absolute disclaimer and waiver of all liability. Note: To the extent possible, I, the Licensor waives the right to collect royalties from you for the exercise of the licensed rights, whether directly or through a collecting society under any voluntary, like Wikimedia. In all other cases I, the Licensor expressly reserves the right to collect such royalties. So feel free to mail or talk to me for an unprocessed media file or to get waived any of the restrictions stated above. Thanks: Thanks for make use of my works; it is always appreciated. An example on how to reuse this media: "Hyblaea puera at Kadavoor" © 2010 Jee & Rani Nature Photography is used here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License Generic license tag I, Jeevan Jose, Kerala, India, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publishes it under the following license: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Attribution: "Hyblaea puera at Kadavoor" © 2010 Jee & Rani Nature Photography is used here under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions: attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). share alike – If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 CC BY-SA 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 truetrue
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes