Taxonomic study of Eteoryctis syngramma (Meyrick, 1914) (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) immature and adult

In the wake of climate change and invasive insects it is important to study the different life stages of insect pests in economically important crops. Eteoryctis syngramma (Meyrick 1914 ) (Gracillariidae: Lepidoptera) is an important pest of Mangifera indica Linnaeus (1753) and Anacardium occidentale Linnaeus (1753) in India. Larva mines the dorsal side of the tender leaves and cause significant damage to the crop. The morphology of immature and adults of E. syngramma was studied. Hitherto, the undescribed larval chaetotaxy, a pupa and adult genitalia of E. syngramma is presented. Further, the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I sequence of E. syngramma under study exhibited 99.04% similarity with differences in five nucleotides to a population from Bangalore, India and varied by 7.69 per cent with a closely related species of E. deversa (Meyrick 1922 ).