| Diaphania indica | |
|---|---|
| |
| Adult female at Bannerghatta National Park (Karnataka, India) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Crambidae |
| Genus: | Diaphania |
| Species: | D. indica
|
| Binomial name | |
| Diaphania indica (Saunders, 1851)
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Numerous, see text | |
Diaphania indica, the cucumber moth or cotton caterpillar, is a widespread but mainly Old World moth species. It belongs to the grass moth family, and therein to the large subfamily Spilomelinae. This moth occurs in many tropical and subtropical regions outside the Americas, though it is native to southern Asia; it is occasionally a significant pest of cucurbits and some other plants.
This species was originally described by William Wilson Saunders in 1851 under the misspelled name Eudioptes indica (properly:Eudioptis), using specimens from Java. His syntypes are in the Hope Entomological Collections of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.[1]
- ^ Clarke (1986)