Setomorpha

Tropical tobacco moth
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Tineidae
Genus:	Setomorpha Zeller, 1852
Species:	S. rutella
Binomial name
Setomorpha rutella Zeller, 1852
Synonyms
List Epilegis cariosella Dietz, 1905 Amadria clemensella Chambers, 1874 Setomorpha contestata Meyrick, 1922 Setomorpha corticinella Snellen, 1885 Setomorpha discipunctella Rebel, 1894 Chrestotes dryas Butler, 1881 Trisyntopa euryspoda Lower, 1918 Apotomia fractiliniella Dietz, 1905 Setomorpha inamoenella Zeller, 1873 Setomorpha majorella Dietz, 1905 Setomorpha margalaestriata Keuchenius, 1917 Gelechia multimaculella Chambers, 1878 Setomorpha operosella Zeller, 1873 Setomorpha ruderella Zeller, 1873 Setomorpha rupicella Zeller, 1852 Setomorpha sigmoidella Dietz, 1905 Setomorpha tineoides Dammerman, 1919 Semiota transversestrigella Dietz, 1905

Setomorpha is a monotypic moth genus in the family Tineidae described by Philipp Christoph Zeller in 1852. Its only species, Setomorpha rutella, the tropical tobacco moth, was described by the same author in the same year. It is a widely spread species that has been distributed by commerce over much of the warmer parts of Africa, Eurasia, Malaysia, Australia, many Pacific islands and North and South America.

The wingspan is 9–22 mm. Adults are brown and speckled with dark brown or black.

The larvae feed on dried goods, cereals, grain, rice, nuts, seeds and other dry vegetable matter. It is a pest of dried tobacco leaves in some regions and it has been reported as a pest of dried insect specimens. Full-grown larvae are about 17 mm long, cylindrical, dirty white and skin transparent. The head is red brown.

The larva pupates in a closely woven and smooth cocoon within a loosely spun outer framework or outer cocoon, to which particles of food and excrement adhere.

External links

• Zimmerman, Elwood C. (1978). Insects of Hawaii. Vol. 9 Microlepidoptera. The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu. hdl:10125/7338.
• "300037.00 – 0428 – Setomorpha rutella – Tropical Tobacco Moth – Zeller, 1852". North American Moth Photographers Group. Mississippi State University. Retrieved July 21, 2018.