TUBER VEGETABLES :: MAJOR PESTS :: HAIRY CATERPILLAR

2. Hairy caterpillar: Creatonotus gangis (Arctiidae: Lepidoptera)
Distribution and status: Sporadic pest in sweet potato growing region in India

Host range: Polyphagous pest Lucerne, rice, maize, grasses, coffee, groundnut, Johnson grass and also feeds on pastures.
Bionomics
It appears in July and continues till November. Eggs are round in shape and shiny creamy-yellow in colour. Caterpillars are cylindrical, slightly tapering posteriorly and dark violet to black in colour. Meso and Meta thorax are light golden-yellow and head black, hairy with characteristic yellow stripe dorsally. Adults have shiny black head. Fore wings are straw coloured with pinkish tinge and a transverse black band at the center.  Hind wings are whitish with few black dots at the margin. A female lays 285 to 695 eggs in clusters arranged in rows closely set together. Incubation period is 4-5 days, larval period 22-32 days,  pupal period 5-7 days. Adult period 12 days.

Creatonotus gangis

Management :

As given under Bihar Hairy caterpillar and Red Hairy caterpillar