Classification

Pyraloidea: Crambidae: Spilomelinae: Diaphania nitidalis (Stoll)

Synonyms

Diaphania vitralis

Larval diagnosis (Detailed)

The larvalarva:
the stages between the egg and pupa of those insects having complete metamorphosis
of D. nitidalis, the pickleworm, was partially described by Peterson (1962)Peterson (1962):
Peterson, A. 1962. Larvae of insects: an introduction to Nearctic species. Part I: Lepidoptera and plant infesting Hymenoptera. Columbus, Ohio. 315 pp., Negm (1968)Negm (1968):
Negm, H. A. R. 1968. Biology and ecology of Diaphania unionalis (Hubner), and comparative morphology of D. unionalis (Hubner), D. hyalinata (Linnaeus), and D. nitidalis (Stoll). Oklahoma State University Ph.D thesis. 138 pp., Weisman (1986)Weisman (1986):
Weisman, D. M. 1986. Keys for the identification of some frequently intercepted lepidopterous larvae. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine series 81-47. 64 pp., Neunzig (1987)Neunzig (1987):
Neunzig, H. H. 1987. Pyralidae (Pyraloidea), pp. 464-494. In F.W. Stehr (ed.). Immature Insects. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. Dubuque, Iowa., Solis (1999, 2011) and Schnitzler et al. (2012)Schnitzler et al. (2012):
Schnitzler, F. R., J. W. Haw, L. Kumarasinghe and S. George. 2012. Identification Guide to Lepidoptera Larvae Intercepted on Trade Pathways. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of New Zealand 15. 105 pp.. Passoa (1985)Passoa (1985):
Passoa, S. 1985. Taxonomy of the larvae and pupae of economically important Pyralidae in Honduras. Master's Thesis. University of Florida. Gainesville. 486 pp. included setal maps for both the early and late instars. Color photographs can be found in King and Saunders (1984)King and Saunders (1984):
King, A. B. S. and J. L. Saunders. 1984. The invertebrate pests of annual food crops in Central America. Overseas Development Administration. 166 pp., Passoa (1985)Passoa (1985):
Passoa, S. 1985. Taxonomy of the larvae and pupae of economically important Pyralidae in Honduras. Master's Thesis. University of Florida. Gainesville. 486 pp., Sparks and Liu (2001)Sparks and Liu (2001):
Sparks, A. N. and T.-X. Liu. 2001. A key to common caterpillar pests of vegetables. Texas A&M Agricultural Extension Service. AgriLife Communications and Marketing E-532. 8 pp. and Heu et al. (2005)Heu et al. (2005):
Heu, R. A., R. T. Hamasaki, J. A. Yalemar and J. S. Sugano. 2005. Pickleworm. Diaphania nitidalis Cramer. (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). State of Hawaii, Department of Agriculture New Pest Advisory 05-02. 2 pp..

Typically, the larvalarva:
the stages between the egg and pupa of those insects having complete metamorphosis
of D. nitidalis has a genal spot, the SV group of A1 bisetosebisetose:
two setae
, no outer tooth on the mandible, the crochetscrochets:
sclerotized, hooklike structures, usually arranged in rows or circles on the prolegs of Lepidoptera larvae
of A3-6 in a mesal penellipsemesal penellipse:
an incomplete circle of crochets closed mesally and open laterally
and no black spot posteriorposterior:
caudal or rear
to the SD2 setaseta:
a hairlike projection of the body wall that is articulated in a socket; compare to spine
on the prothoraxprothorax:
the first thoracic segment
(Passoa 1985Passoa 1985:
Passoa, S. 1985. Taxonomy of the larvae and pupae of economically important Pyralidae in Honduras. Master's Thesis. University of Florida. Gainesville. 486 pp.). The D1 setaeseta:
a hairlike projection of the body wall that is articulated in a socket; compare to spine
are longer than D2 on A1-7, but on A8 the situation is reversed, D2 is longer than D1. The early instars have pigmented pinaculapinaculum:
a small, flat, or slightly elevated chitinized area bearing a seta or setae
and a characteristic pattern on the prothoracic shieldprothoracic shield:
the dorsal shieldlike covering of the first thoracic segment
forming a thick oval. Both early and late instars have the V1 pinaculumpinaculum:
a small, flat, or slightly elevated chitinized area bearing a seta or setae
of A3-6 bandlike and SD1 on A2 and A7 are normal in size.

Unlike D. hyalinata and D. indica, D. nitidalis lacks an outer tooth (projection) on the mandible above the lateral setaeseta:
a hairlike projection of the body wall that is articulated in a socket; compare to spine
and has a genal spot. Live larvaelarva:
the stages between the egg and pupa of those insects having complete metamorphosis
of D. nitidalis lack the white subdorsal longitudinal stripes found in D. hyalinata and D. indica. Both the D. hyalinata-indica complex and D. nitidalis have a row of microspinesmicrospines:
minute spines on the body, usually visible only under magnification
at the base of the proleg, but the distribution of this character in Crambidae has not been studied.

Identification Authority (Detailed)

Because hundreds of species of pyraloids could have the major features of D. nitidalis (no outer tooth, a genal spot and bisetosebisetose:
two setae
SV group on A1), host and origin are important clues for identification of this species. Except for Hawaii (Heu et al. 2005Heu et al. 2005:
Heu, R. A., R. T. Hamasaki, J. A. Yalemar and J. S. Sugano. 2005. Pickleworm. Diaphania nitidalis Cramer. (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). State of Hawaii, Department of Agriculture New Pest Advisory 05-02. 2 pp.), there are no confirmed records for D. nitidalis outside of the New World. Hosts are always curcurbits, other records are potential misidentifications of the caterpillarcaterpillar:
a larva with a conspicuous head, three pairs of thoracic legs, and prolegs; the larva of a butterfly, moth, sawfly, or scorpionfly (= eruciform)
or host. Diaphania nitidalis is considered a complex (CIE 2000CIE 2000:
Commonwealth Institute of Entomology. 2000. Diaphania nitidalis species complex. Distribution Maps of Plant Pests 611. Series A (Agriculture). London, England. 2 pp.), but apparently none of the sibling species are found on crop plants. Therefore, restrict identifications of D. nitidalis to New World and Hawaii interceptions on cultivated cucurbits until other closely related species are studied more closely.

Origin records

Diaphania nitidalis has been intercepted from the following locations:

Armenia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, India, Iran, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Romania, Senegal, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe

Locations from outside of the New World (and Hawaii) likely represent misidentifications.

Host records

Diaphania nitidalis has been intercepted on the following hosts:

Abelmoschus esculentus, Abelmoschus sp., Amaranthus sp., Annona cherimola, Apium graveolens, Artocarpus altilis, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Benincasa hispida, Brassica pekinensis, Brassica sp., Cajanus cajan, Capsicum annuum, Capsicum sp., Carica papaya, Chamaedorea sp., Chenopodium berlandieri ssp nuttalliae, Chenopodium sp., Cichorium intybus, Citrus aurantiifolia, Coccinea grandis, Coccinia sp., Cocos nucifera, Colocasia esculenta, Coriandrum sativum, Cucumis anguria, Cucumis melo, Cucumis melo var. inodorus, Cucumis sativus, Cucumis sp., Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata, Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita sp., Cucurbitaceae, Cyamopsis sp., Cyamopsis tetragonoloba, Dianthus sp., Diospyros virginiana, Inga sp., Lactuca sp., Lagenaria siceraria, Lepidium sp., Leucaena pulverulenta, Lilium sp., Luffa acutangula, Luffa sp., Malus domestica, Mangifera indica, Manihot esculenta, Manilkara zapota, Mentha piperita, Mentha sp., Momordica balsamina, Momordica charantia, Momordica sp., Murraya koenigii, Musa sp., Nicotiana tabacum, Ocimum basilicum, Olea europaea, Opuntia sp., Phaseolus sp., Phaseolus vulgaris, Physalis ixocarpa, Physalis philadelphica, Physalis pubescens, Physalis sp., Piper sp., Pongamia pinnata, Pouteria sapota, Prunus domestica, Quercus sp., Rumohra sp., Sechium edule, Sechium sp., Solanaceae, Solanum aethiopicum, Solanum lycopersicum var lycopersicum, Solanum melongena, Solanum quitoense, Solanum sp., Spinacia oleracea, Spondias sp., Urtica sp., Vigna unguiculata, Xanthosoma sp., Zea mays

Hosts listed above that are not cultivated cucurbits need verification. Trees (oak, citrus), monocots (lily), and Opuntia are especially suspect.