Scirpophaga nivella

The species was described in 1794 by Johan Christian Fabricius as Tinea nivella, from a specimen collected in India. It was moved to the genus Tryporyza by Wang in 1980, and a year later it was moved again to the genus Scirpophaga by the Thai entomologist Angoon Lewvanich. The holotype is a female specimen from India kept at the Zoologisk Museum in Copenhagen, with the genitalia on a slide numbered 3602. ==Description==

The wingspan is about 28–30 mm in males and 24–50 mm in females. Hindwings with veins 4 and 5 well separated at origin. A pure white moth with orange anal tuft, sometimes brownish in the female. The larvae are off white with a reddish dorsal line. Similar species Many, if not all, records of the moth Scirpophaga nivella in the cane fields of Asia are in fact of S. excerptalis. All species of Scirpophaga are indistinguishable from each other as caterpillars, very difficult to distinguish as females, and can best be distinguished by examining the male genitalia or by sequencing and comparing the DNA. ==Distribution==

According to Chen & Wu it is found in China (including Henan, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Hong Kong, Guangxi, Yunnan), Taiwan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, on the Andaman Islands, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, western Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia (including Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Timor, Aru Islands), New Guinea, Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji. Another source, CAB International, has it in much of the same, but includes both Pakistan and Australia. Because most of the distribution is garnered from misidentified collections made over the past century, of the sources above only Lewvanich can be accepted as trustworthy, and it is unclear where exactly the species occurs. ==Ecology==

Food plants A major food plant is often erroneously believed to be sugarcane. This is due to most records of this moth to actually be of the species Scirpophaga excerptalis. Although this situation was resolved taxonomically by a 1981 publication by Lewvanich, many reports have continued to erroneously misidentify S. excerptalis as S. nivella. Cyperus, Eleocharis and Scirpus are actually the main host plants of the moth. Oryza sativa (rice) is sometimes affected, but the scarcity of recent reports of this moth infecting rice likely means that it is only a minor pest of rice. Parasitoids The Indian agronomic entomologist Dhamo K. Butani documented a Temelucha species parasitising the moth in rice fields in India. ==Uses==

The species has historically been considered a potential pest of sugarcane, and often still is, although publications in 1981 and later in 2003 have made clear this species does not attack sugarcane. It may, however, occasionally be found in rice. Control Mechanical control is achieved by destroying crops in the infected part of the field and by collecting and destroying the egg masses. Chemical control is difficult but possible. Spraying low dosages of malathion, endosulfan or carbofuran during the period the moths lay their eggs has been effective. It has also been recommended to dust crops with moderate concentrations of carbofuran or high concentrations of dieldrin, endrin or lindane during the period the adult moths emerge from their cocoons. Note that this information is very old, most of these products have been banned internationally for agricultural use. ==References==