Occurrence of Opogona sacchari (Bojer) in Japan (Lepidoptera, Tineidae)

The banana moth, Opogona sacchari (Bojer) is known as a pest of many tropical crops, fruits, and ornamental plants in Africa, Europe, the West Indies, Brazil, the southern United States, and elsewhere. It has rarely been recorded in Asia. Its first detection in Japan was in 1986 at the Moji Plant Protection Station, where larvae were found feeding on the stem of Dracaena sp. (Agavaceae). This moth was also spotted in Chichi-jima, Ogasawara, in 1999. However, through the identification performed in our laboratories, a number of records on this moth have accumulated from many localities in Japan. O. saechari's presence in Japan appears to be in the warm regions of Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and the Ryukyu Islands.