http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/orn/brazilian_skipper.htm
common name: larger canna leafroller
scientific name: Calpodes ethlius (Stoll) (Insecta: Lepidoptera:
Hesperiidae) =
Introduction - Distribution - Description and Life History - Hosts and
Damage - Management -
Selected References =
Introduction =
Flowering canna plants (several species of Canna) make beautiful
additions to the landscape in Florida home gardens and
on public or commercial property. Cannas (see University of Florida Fact
Sheet " Cannas for the Florida Landscape") are
easy to grow, have few disease problems, and produce lush
tropical-looking foliage and showy colorful flowers.
However, cannas can be decimated by leaf-chewing insects, such as
grasshoppers and leaf-rolling caterpillars. Two
caterpillars, in particular, are very destructive to canna in Florida,
the larger canna leafroller, Calpodes ethlius (Stoll),
whose adult form is variously called the Brazilian skipper, the canna
butterfly, or the arrowroot butterfly (Moore 1928),
and the lesser canna leafroller, Geshna cannalis (Quaintance) . =
Distribution =
Calpodes ethlius is native to Mexico, Central America, and the northern
part of the South American continent, being found
as far south as the northern border of Argentina (Scudder 1889). It is
found on the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean
(Onore and Mielke 1988) and throughout the West Indies in the Caribbean
Sea. In the United States, it is well-established
in Florida, Texas, and southern Arizona (Scudder 1889). It is an
occasional visitor to other Gulf coastal states and can be
found in coastal Georgia and South Carolina. To date, C. ethlius has
been collected in at least 24 states (see Butterflies of
North America), although many of those records are considered to be
"strays" rather than indications of establishment. =
Description and Life History =
The adults of C. ethlius are brownish skipper butterflies of medium
size. The female's forewing ranges from 22 to 27 mm
in length while that of the male is somewhat smaller at 23 to 24 mm
(Scudder 1889). The forewings are rich dark brown
except for five vitreous (=3D transparent) spots and have a fringe of
dirty golden yellow hairs on the posterior margin. The
hind wings are a little darker than the forewings and have three
vitreous spots arranged in an almost straight line. The
dorsal surface of the thorax is olive-colored while the ventral surface
is yellowish gray. The abdomen is dark brown
dorsally and pale yellow whitish ventrally. Adult skippers are strong,
fast fliers and can usually only be collected while
they nectar at flowering plants. In southern Florida, adults are usually
first noticed in May with a second generation of
adults appearing in early June. It is not known how many generations per
year occur in Florida but adults have been
collected in all months of the year (Kimball 1965) and all larval stages
have been collected in January. It is thought that C.
ethlius can only overwinter in the very southernmost region of Florida
and must recolonize more northern regions each year
(Moore 1928). =
adult at rest =
adult with wings spread =
Female C. ethlius lay eggs singly or in widely spaced groups of five to
seven eggs on the upper and lower surfaces of
canna leaves (Scudder 1889). The egg measures about 1.25 mm in diameter
and 0.68 mm in height. It is a pale green color
when first deposited and, within a day, becomes a distinct pink color
(Moore 1928). =
eggs =
The first-instar larva ecloses after four to five days under Florida
summer conditions and is approximately 4 mm in length
and yellowish in color (Scudder 1889; Cockerell 1892). Its head is very
large, black, glossy and bilobed. The thoracic
shield, legs and anal tip are also black. The larva consumes most of its
egg shell (King 1880) and then moves to the margin
of the leaf where it eats two narrow strips from the margin of the leaf
towards the midrib producing a leaf flap (Moore
1928). The larva fastens silken strands between the outer edge of the
leaf flap and the main portion of the leaf. As the silk
shrinks or condenses as it dries, the leaf flap is drawn over the
caterpillar, making a flattened tubular shelter with exits at
either end. The larva keeps the majority of its body within the leaf
roll, only extending its head to feed. The leaf roll may
serve as both protection from predators and direct sun. The first instar
molts to the next stage after three days. =
The remaining four larval instars range in length from 5 to 50 mm. The
second through fourth instars have a dark brown,
almost black, head and a dark green body that is semi-transparent,
allowing the organs and tracheal system to be seen
through the integument. The larvae appear dark green because of the leaf
material within their guts. There is a white stripe
on each side of the dorsum of the larva running the length of the body.
The fifth instar has an orange head with a dark
triangle on the frontal region. The larvae consume most of the leaf
around their leaf roll and then move to another area of
the leaf, when necessary. They roll a bigger leaf roll as they outgrow
the previous one. Several large larvae may defoliate
an entire canna plant in this manner. The larvae have an interesting
behavior of flicking away frass so that their leaf roll
remains free of pellets and instead, frass accumulates on the ground.
Fecal firing (see reference below) is facilitated by the
anatomy of the larva's anal comb and the buildup of hemostatic pressure
within its terminal abdominal segment (Caveney et
al. 1998). It is hypothesized that frass removal may reduce discovery by
parasites and predators which often use the odor
and sight of frass as clues to the potential presence of hosts or prey. =
second instar larva =
fifth instar larva =
The larva feeds voraciously during the final, fifth instar stage. As it
prepares for pupation, the larva ceases feeding and
empties its gut of leaf material. It shortens in length and becomes
bright bluish green. This prepupal stage lasts from one to
eight days in Florida, depending on the ambient temperature (Moore
1928). The larva pupates within its leaf roll after first
having spun a thin silken mat covering the "floor" of its shelter. The
chrysalis is bright green in color (Cockerell 1892) and
is approximately 36 mm in length (Scudder 1889). It has a pronounced
black spine at the anterior end and the long
proboscis of the adult is enclosed in a case that extends beyond the
cremaster at the tip of the abdomen. The pupal stage
lasts seven to eight days in the summer in Florida. =
larva before gut emptying =
larva after gut emptying =
pupa =
pupa showing anterior spine =
Host Plants and Damage =
The host plants of C. ethlius include members of the Cannaceae family,
which contains the single genus, Canna. Calpodes
ethlius has also been collected from West Indian arrowroot, Maranta
arundinacea L., of the closely-related family
Marantaceae. Leaf rolling reduces the aesthetic appeal of ornamental
canna and voracious leaf feeding by larger larvae
may be so severe that plants do not flower (Young 1982). In food crops,
such as arrowroot, severely defoliated plants may
produce little of the harvestable rhizome. =
leaf damage =
Management =
In 1981, 39 canna varieties were evaluated for host plant resistance to
egg-laying (=3D oviposition) and larval feeding by C.
ethlius (Reinert et al. 1983). In general, the red-leaved varieties
(especially 'Wyoming', 'Black Velvet', and 'Ambassador')
received many more eggs than the green-leaved varieties. Varieties with
scarlet, red, or orange flowers, regardless of leaf
color, tended to experience more oviposition and larval feeding damage
than varieties with other flower colors. Although
varieties have been identified that are particularly susceptible to the
Brazilian skipper, none has been identified as
resistant. =
Little attention has been paid to biological control of C. ethlius in
ornamental canna. However, this skipper attacks
arrowroot, M. arundinacea, which is an important food crop in the
Caribbean region. A very small (0.8-1.2 mm in length)
parasitic wasp, Ooencyrtus calpodicus Noyes (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae),
was found in Trinidad attacking eggs of C.
ethlius and was introduced into other Caribbean islands for control of
this species (Noyes 1985). Ooencyrtus calpodicus
has not been recorded from the United States, however. Three
hymenopteran parasites have been recorded from C. ethlius
in Florida; Brachymeria incerta (Cresson) (Chalicididae) parasitizing
pupae and Xenufens ruskini Girault
(Trichogrammatidae) (Krombein et al. 1979) and Trichogramma minutum
Riley (Trichogrammatidae) parasitizing eggs
(Moore 1928). Parasitic tachinid flies, including Eucelatoria australis
Townsend, Eusisyropa blanda (Osten Sacken), and
Lixophaga diatraeae (Townsend), have emerged from pupae in Florida
(Arnaud 1978). I have noted infection by
pathogens which cause the larvae to turn black, liquify and
disintegrate. There is probably considerable natural mortality of
C. ethlius in Florida due to parasitism, predation, and diseases but
obviously not enough to keep populations from heavily
defoliating cannas in certain years. =
Chemical control is difficult because larvae are protected from direct
chemical exposure within their leaf rolls. If deemed
necessary, chemical control should be attempted when larvae are small
and are still actively feeding on the leaves.
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) products are probably the best choice for
chemical control. Follow the application instructions
on the label of the specific Bt product. Stickers will probably need to
be added to the spray because the thick waxy coating
on canna leaves repels water. Other chemical insecticides are described
in: =
Landscape Plant Insect Management Suggestions
Commercial Foliage and Woody Ornamental Insect Management Suggestions =
Selected References =
Arnaud, P. H., Jr. 1978. A host-parasite catalog of North American
Tachinidae (Diptera). Misc. Publ. No. 1319.
USDA, Washington, D.C. =
Caveney, S., H. McLean, and D. Surry. (1998). Faecal firing in a
skipper caterpillar is pressure-driven. J. Exp. Biol.
201: 121-133.
http://www.biologists.com/JEB/201/01/jeb1194.html (20
May 2000). =
Cockerell, T. D. A. 1892. Notes on the life-history of Calpodes
ethlius. Entomol. News 3: 78- 80. =
Kimball, C. P. 1965. The Lepidoptera of Florida: An annotated
checklist. Division of Plant Industry, State of Florida
Department of Agriculture, Gainesville, Florida. =
King, H. S. 1880. Internal organization of Hesperia ethlius Cram. as
observed in the living animal. Pysche 3:
322-342. =
Krombein, K. V., P. D. Hurd, Jr., D. R. Smith, and B. D. Burks.
1979. Catalog of Hymenoptera in America north of
Mexico. Vol. 1. Symphyta and Apocrita (Parasitica). Smithsonian
Institution Press, Washington, D.C. =
Moore, M. B. 1928. A study of the life history and habits under
Florida conditions of the canna butterfly (Brazilian
skipper), Calpodes ethlius (Cramer), an insect pest of the canna.
M.S. thesis, University of Florida, Gainesville. 95 p.
Onore, G. and O. Mielke. 1988. Calpodes ethlius (Cramer)
(Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae) em Gal pagos. Rev. Bras.
Zool. 5: 619-620. =
Opler, P. A., H. Pavulaan, and R. E. Stanford (coordinators).
(1995). Butterflies of North America. Jamestown, ND:
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center.
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/d...sa/bflyusa.htm (20
May 2000). =
Reinert, J. A., T. K. Broschat, and H. M. Donselman. 1983.
Resistance of Canna spp. to the skipper butterfly,
Calpodes ethlius (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Environ. Entomol. 12:
1829- 1832. =
Scudder, S. H. 1889. Calpodes ethlius - the Brazilian skipper, pp.
1750-1757. In The Butterflies of the Eastern United
States and Canada with Special Reference to New England. Vol. II
Lycaenidae, Papilionidae, Hesperidae. S. H.
Scudder Publ., Cambridge. =
Young, A. M. 1982. Notes on the interaction of the skipper butterfly
Calpodes ethlius (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae)
with its larval host plant Canna edulis (Cannaceae) in Mazatlan,
state of Sinaloa, Mexico. New York Entomol. Soc.
90: 99-114. =
Author: Heather J. McAuslane, University of Florida, and Kim King,
University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario,
Canada
Photographs: Paul M. Choate, University of Florida and Kim King,
University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario,
Canada
Project Coordinator: Thomas R. Fasulo, University of Florida
Publication Number: EENY-132
Publication Date: May 2000
Copyright 2000, University of Florida =
Featured Creatures
Department of Entomology and Nematology
Division of Plant Industry
Extension Digital Information Source
rosemarie face wrote:
=
I planted some cannas this year and noticed a couple of days ago some
circular holes in the leaves . What could be eating at them ? And what
can I do about it ? I checked out the leaves but couldn't see any
critters . Hope someone can help !
Thanks ! Rosie z5 IN
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J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
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