About Somena scintillans Walker, 1856
The head is yellow. The thorax is brownish. The abdomen is black or yellow, with an orange anal tuft. Forewings are vinous brown, sprinkled with dark scales. This dark color extends as two spurs across the yellow marginal area below the apex, reaching the center of the margin, but sometimes it does not reach the margin. The costa is often yellowish. Hindwings are yellow; in some specimens, they are fuscous brown with a broad yellow margin. This is a polyphagous species. The larva is dark brown, with a series of crimson lateral tubercles along a yellow line, which bear tufts of grey hair. The third somite is banded with yellow. Short brown hair forms dorsal tufts on the fourth, fifth and eleventh somites. A broad, dorsal yellow stripe runs from the fifth to tenth somites. There is a yellow spot on the anal somite. The larva is known to damage apple plantations, and is commonly collected from ragi, castor, pigeon pea, cowpea, field bean, cucurbits, mango, citrus, hibiscus, rose, ficus, coffee, tea, and many other plants.
