Bougainvillea caterpillar moth

Description

Asciodes gordialis, the bougainvillea caterpillar moth, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Achille Guenée in 1854. It is found across the southern United States, in the West Indies (including Cuba and the Dominican Republic) and in South America (including French Guiana, Ecuador and Argentina). The wingspan is about 25 mm. The larvae feed on Bougainvillea species. Asciodes is a genus of snout moths in the subfamily Spilomelinae of the family Crambidae. The genus was erected by Achille Guenée in 1854 with Asciodes gordialis as type species. The five species are distributed from the southern United States (California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, South Carolina) and Mexico over the Caribbean (Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Lesser Antilles) to the tropical and subtropical South America (Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador). Like other Asciodini, caterpillars of Asciodes commonly feed on Caryophyllales. So far, only the food plants of Asciodes gordialis larvae have been recorded, which are mostly Bougainvillea, Mirabilis and Pisonia (all in the Nyctaginaceae family), but also non-Caryophyllales like Citrus (Rutaceae) and Manihot esculenta (Euphorbiaceae).