Summary of the report on the pomeloe moth
This is a brief entomological report by L. Wray, Jr., Curator of the Perak Museum, documenting the life history of a small moth responsible for destroying pomeloe fruit in the Residency gardens at Kwala Kangsa, Perak (p. 83).
Wray describes the full life cycle: eggs laid on the underside of fruit, larvae tunneling through the rind and pulp, pupation in earth cells lined with silk, and emergence of a warm brown, nocturnal moth approximately one inch across the wings (pp. 83–85). He notes that the caterpillar’s damage is compounded by secondary bacterial and fungal infection of the fruit tissue, and by secondary pests—flies and a small brown beetle—entering through the holes made by the larvae (pp. 85–86). As preventive measures, Wray recommends destroying all infested or fallen fruit and bagging young fruit to protect it from egg-laying, and suggests that the wild citrus species limau kerbau is likely the moth’s natural food in the Perak jungle (p. 86).