Plodia interpunctella (H̡bner, [1813])

Plodia interpunctella (H̡bner, [1813]) View in CoL

COMMON NAME(S): Indian meal moth. Grain moth, Flour moth, Pantry moth, Weevil moth, North American high-flyer, Indian meal moth, Indian meal moth, Indian Meal Moth, or Indian-Meal Moth.

SYNONYM(S): Tinea zeae Fitch, 1856 ; Plodia castaneella Reutti, 1898 ; Unadilla latercula Hampson, 1901a ; Ephestia glycinivora Matsumura, 1917 ; Plodia americana Piutti, 1920 ; Ephestia glycinivorella Matsumura, 1932 .

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Albania, Algeria, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Canada ( British Columbia), Comoros, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark ( Faroe Islands), Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Greenland, Hawaii, Hispaniola, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malta, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Réunion, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro ( Serbia), Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Zambia.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Lusaka, in Lusaka Province.

LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): A cosmopolitan stored products pest. Can infest a wide range of dry foodstuffs of vegetable origin, such as cereal, bread, pasta, rice, couscous, flour, spices or dried fruits and nuts. More unusual recorded foods include chocolate and cocoa beans, coffee substitute, cookies, dried mangelwurzel, and even the toxic seeds of Jimsonweed ( Datura stramonium ). The food they infest will often seem to be webbed together.

SOURCES: De Milliano 1983; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Zambia Quarantine Act 1973.