Report of Digama hearseyana (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera) on Karonda (Carissa carandus) Plant in Rajasthan, India: Incidence and Morphological Analysis

For the first time, D. hearseyana were observed on Karonda tree in the hot arid region of north-western India, (i.e., Thar Desert) and identified as D. hearseyana. During the present study, the average incidence of D. hearseyana on trees ranged between 10.00 to 60.00 and 11.67 to 63.33 % during 2014 and 2015, respectively. The incidence and numbers were higher between July-I fortnight and September-I fortnight, and the maximum incidence of 60.00 and 63.33 per cent was recorded in August-II fortnight and the minimum in October-II fortnight (16.67 and 18.33%) during 2014 and 2015. Thus the highest mean number of this D. hearseyana per tree was recorded in August-II fortnight (5.77 and 5.97/plant) followed by August-I fortnight (4.80 and 4.83/plant) and the lowest was in October-II fortnight (16.67 and 18.33/plant). During a survey of the natural vegetation, the population of this pest was found to be higher on young trees than the old trees. The larvae damage the fresh emerging leaves and flowers, which led to the suppression of growth of the karonda tree through scraping of leaves and flowers. The females laid single egg on leaves. Eggs were blackish brown light colour. The female was distinctly large than the male in respect to all body parts. The mean body lengths of males and females were 11.28 mm and 12.07 mm, respectively. To our knowledge this is the first report of D. hearseyana on Karonda. This D. hearseyana is damaging economically important parts of tree, such as leaves and flowers. Therefore, management practices needs to be developed and implemented to minimize the losses caused by this pest.