Abstract

Exelastis atomosa Wism., the tur plume moth has been reported to be a destructive pest of Cajanus cajan (tur) by Fletcher (1917), Ayyar (1940), Kadam and Patel (1957), Lal (1959) and Shrivastava (1964). Besides Arhar it has also been reported feeding on Carposiriid, Moridarchis roprobata, fruits of Eugenia jambolina, olive, Dolichos biflorus and Dolichos lablab. The larvae feed on tender buds, flowers and tender developing pods by making holes and feeding voraciously on the developing seeds. In case of severe infestation 30% of the grains have been found damaged due to the attack of this pest alone in Gwalior region of Madhya Pradesh in the year 1966. The distribution of this pest has been reported from New Guinea (Fletcher, 1920) and East Pakistan (Hazarika and Sattar, 1961). In India this insect has been noted in Central provinces. Bihar and Madras (Lefroy, 1909), South India (Fletcher, 1914), Mysore (Krishnamurthy, 1936), erstwhile Bombay State (Trehan and Pingle, 1946), Uttar Pradesh (Lal, 1959), Madhya Pradesh (Gupta and Joshi, 1955) and Rajasthan (1964). Information available on the biology and bionomics of this pest is fragmentory as evident from the review of literature, investigations were, therefore, undertaken during 1965-66 in the Agricultural College, Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh).

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