GayleTibbs8 at 05:08, 8 May 2026

2026-05-08T05:08:12Z

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{{Short description|Species of arctiine moth}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Creatonotos gangis (7171776400).jpg
| genus = Creatonotos
| species = gangis
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[Centuria Insectorum|1763]])
| synonyms =
*''Phalaena gangis'' Linnaeus
*''Creatonotos continuatus'' Moore
*''Noctua interrupta'' Linnaeus
*''Creatonotos flavoabdominalis'' Bang-Haas
| synonyms_ref = <ref name="Herbison"/>
}}

'''''Creatonotos gangis''''', the '''Baphomet moth''',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Baphomet Moth (Creatonotos gangis) |url=https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/199441-Creatonotos-gangis |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203044203/https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/199441-Creatonotos-gangis |archive-date=3 December 2020 |access-date=2 February 2025 |website=iNaturalist |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sourakov |first=Andrei |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RstMEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 |title=The Lives of Moths: A Natural History of Our Planet's Moth Life |last2=Chadd |first2=Rachel Warren |date=26 April 2022 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-23036-8 |pages=50 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv1z2hmk7 |jstor=10.2307/j.ctv1z2hmk7 |url-access=limited}}</ref> is a [[species]] of [[Arctiinae (moth)|arctiine]] [[moth]] in [[South East Asia]] and [[Australia]]. It was described by [[Carl Linnaeus]] in his 1763 ''[[Centuria Insectorum]]''. It is often listed as a synonym of ''[[Creatonotos interrupta]]'',<ref>{{cite web |last=Savela |first=Markku |url=http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/noctuoidea/arctiidae/arctiinae/creatonotos/#interrupta |title=''Creatonotos interrupta'' (Linnaeus, 1767) |website=Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms |accessdate=January 14, 2019}}</ref> but the identity is unclear.

==Description and life cycle==
Adults have white hindwings and brown forewings, each with a dark streak, and a wingspan of {{cvt|4|cm}}.<ref name="Herbison"/> The abdomen is red or, more rarely, yellow.<ref name="Herbison"/> Males have four large, grey-colored [[hair-pencil|coremata]] behind them, which can exceed the length of the abdomen when inflated.<ref name="Herbison"/>

[[File:DSC0672-01 creatonotos gangis.jpg|thumb|An adult male with its coremata inflated. This male has relatively short coremata.|alt=An adult male Creatonotos gangis moth with its four coremata inflated, resembling odd tentacles or worms emerging from the end of the abdomen, covered with long hairs. In this individual, each one of its coremata is about half to two-thirds the length of the moth's abdomen. The moth's wings are spread, showing its bright red abdomen with black spots running down the center.]]

The [[egg (biology)|eggs]] are yellow and round, and are laid in rows on the leaves of food plants. The [[caterpillar]]s are brown hairy animals with a yellow stripe along the back, with a [[polyphagy|polyphagous diet]],<ref name="Herbison"/> known as a minor pest which feeds on groundnuts, [[rice]], [[Eleusine coracana|ragi]], [[sorghum]], [[Pennisetum americanum|pearl millet]], [[Coffee bean|coffee]], [[sweet potato]], and [[Alfalfa|lucerne]] crops.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://databases.nbair.res.in/insectpests/Creatonotos-gangis.php | title=''Creatonotos gangis'' (L.) | publisher=ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources | accessdate=23 July 2016}}</ref>

In ''[[The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma]]: Moths Vol. II'', the species (listed as ''C. interrupta'') is described as follows:

{{quote|quote=Antennae minutely ciliated in both sexes. Head, thorax and fore wing pale pinkish ochreous. Palpi and legs smoky black, the femora yellow; a broad dorsal band on thorax; abdomen crimson above, with dorsal and lateral series of black spots. Fore wing with a broad black fascia below median nervure; two black spots at end of cell, and a broad streak beyond the lower angle. Hind wing pale or dark fuscous; some specimens with a sub-marginal series of black spots. The variety ''continuatus'' has additional black streaks on the fore wing below the costa, in cell, above inner margin, and in the marginal interspaces, but all the intergrades occur. Larva black, sparsely clothes with long hairs; head marked with white; a yellow dorsal line with a series of orange spots on it; prolegs pale.|source=''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths Vol. II''<ref>{{cite book |last=Hampson |first=G. F. |authorlink=George Hampson |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/180400#page/5/mode/1up |title=The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Moths |volume=II |publisher=Taylor and Francis |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.100745 |doi-access=free |pages=26-27 |year=1894}}</ref>
}}

==Distribution==
''Creatonotos gangis'' lives in [[South East Asia]] and parts of [[Australia]].<ref name="Holland">{{cite book |editor=Jules Janick |year=2009 |title=Horticultural Reviews|volume=35 |publisher=[[John Wiley and Sons]] |isbn=978-0-470-38642-2 |chapter=Pomegranate: botany, horticulture, breeding |author=D. Holland, K. Hatib & I. Bar-Ya'akov |pages=127–191 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhwIJPPXEfsC&pg=PA162}}</ref> Its Asian distribution includes eastern [[Indonesia]], [[India]], [[Iran]], [[Sri Lanka]], [[China]], [[Japan]], [[Thailand]] and [[New Guinea]].<ref name="Herbison">{{cite web |url=https://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/arct/gangis.html |title=''Creatonotos gangis'' (Linnaeus, 1763) |work=Lepidoptera Larvae of Australia |author=Don Herbison-Evans & Stella Crossley |date=July 7, 2024 |accessdate=February 2, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240901203552/https://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/arct/gangis.html |archive-date=September 1, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> In Australia, it is restricted to northern parts of [[Western Australia]], [[Northern Territory]] and [[Queensland]], extending as far south as [[Mackay, Queensland|Mackay]].<ref>{{cite book |author=I. F. B. Common |year=1990 |title=Moths of Australia |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |isbn=978-90-04-09227-3 |chapter=Noctuoidea |pages=417–469 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=magzbmvdRvQC&pg=PA435}}</ref>

==Ecology==
Adult males [[secretion|secrete]] the [[pheromone]] [[hydroxydanaidal]] in order to attract mates. The amount produced, and the size of the coremata which produce it, are however dependent on the diet that the moth experienced as a [[caterpillar]]. If the larval diet contained [[pyrrolizidine alkaloid]]s, then the coremata become large and the male will release up to 400 micrograms (0.4 milligrams) of hydroxydanaidal, but if it does not, then the [[Hair-pencil|coremata]] do not grow large and no scent is produced.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jeffrey B. Harborne | authorlink=Jeffrey Harborne |year=1993 |title=Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry |edition=4th |publisher=[[Gulf Professional Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-12-324686-8 |chapter=Plant toxins and their effects on animals |pages=71–103 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jSCFZRB42TwC&pg=PA98}}</ref>

The larvae of ''C. gangis'' can cause extensive damage to the foliage of [[pomegranate]] trees.<ref name="Holland"/>

==See also==
*[[Pyrrolizidine alkaloid sequestration]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |author=Michael Boppré & Dietrich Schneider |year=1989 |title=The biology of ''Creatonotos'' (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) with special reference to the androconial system |journal=[[Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society]] |volume=96 |issue=4 |pages=339–356 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1989.tb02518.x}}

{{Taxonbar |from=Q5183599}}

[[Category:Spilosomina]]
[[Category:Moths of Australia]]
[[Category:Moths of Asia]]
[[Category:Moths described in 1763]]
[[Category:Moths of Japan]]
[[Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]
[[Category:Insect pests of millets]]
[[Category:Moths of Indonesia]]
[[Category:Moths of New Guinea]]
[[Category:Moths of Sri Lanka]]
[[Category:Moths of Oceania]]
[[Category:Lepidoptera of Thailand]]
[[Category:Lepidoptera of India]]
[[Category:Moths of China]]
[[Category:Lepidoptera of Iran]]
[[Category:Moths of the Middle East]]

Creatonotos gangis - Revision history

GayleTibbs8 at 05:08, 8 May 2026