Diatraea Guilding, 1828

Landry, Bernard & Léger, Théo, 2024, Taxonomic revision of the Crambinae (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae sensu lato) of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, Revue suisse de Zoologie 131 (2), pp. 357-387 : 362

Diatraea Guilding, 1828

This large genus contains 41 species known from the Western Hemisphere ( Dyar & Heinrich, 1927; Box, 1931; Solis & Metz, 2016; Nuss et al., 2024). Diatraea saccharalis , the type species, is a well-known pest of sugarcane in the Americas. The absence of ocelli, the presence of pockets with specialized scales on the male second abdominal segment, hair tufts on the hind tibia of the male, and basal extensions of the tegumen in male genitalia of most species define the genus ( Solis & Metz, 2016). Host plants are exclusively panicoid grasses ( Poaceae, Panicoideae ), including several crops such as maize ( Zea mays L.), sugar cane ( Saccharum officinarum L.), and great millet [ Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] ( Robinson et al., 2010).