Development of Hippotion celerio (L.) (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) on Cissus quadrangularis L. (Vitaceae) in Bangalore, India

Abstract

Approximately 3000 plant species are used in traditional medicine practices in India, such as Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Siddha and Yunani (Pandey et al. 2013). Cissus quadrangularis L. (Vitaceae), an indigenous plant in India, is being evaluated for its therapeutic efficacy (Ravishankar & Shukla 2007).Cissus quadrangularis is characterized by a thick quadrangular fleshy stem, and leaves with smooth margins. It is commonly grown in warm tropical climates in India, Sri Lanka, Java and West Africa (Udupa et al. 1970). The plant is often called “Hadjod” in Hindi and “Asthisamdhani” in Sanskrit due to its potential to speed the healing of fractured bones (Sivarajan & Balachandran 1994). In Kenya and Sri Lanka, the plant is used to treat piles, gout, venereal diseases, leukorrhea and dysentery (HolfordWalker 1981, Khan et al. 1991, Yoganarsimhan 2000). The stem is used to treat scurvy, irregular menstruation, otorrhoea and epistaxis, and the root is used to treat bone fracture in India (Nadkarni 1954, Prasad & Udupa 1963, Kumbhojkar et al. 1991, Sandhip & Sheetal 2014, Brahmkshatriya et al. 2015). During a regular survey of pests of economically important crops in 2016, a new lepidopteran pest was encountered on C. quadrangularis grown as medicinal plants in the backyard of a house near Rabindranath Tagore Nagar, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Caterpillars were bought back to the laboratory, reared on C. quadrangularis, and the resulting moths were identified by Dr. Janakiraman Poorani at Indian Council of Agricultural Research – National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (ICAR-NBAIR), Bangalore, Karnataka, India, asHippotion celerio (L.) (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). Hippotion celerio is found in Africa, India and Sri Lanka, and, as an invasive species in southern Europe and Australia. This detection represents the first report of H. celerio in Bangalore. Chatterjee & Ram (1969) reportedH. celerio from Poona, India, and described coloration of last instar