Moths of North Carolina
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36 NC Records

Papaipema marginidens (Guenée, 1852) - Wild Yam Borer

Taxonomy
Superfamily: Noctuoidea Family: NoctuidaeSubfamily: NoctuinaeTribe: ApameiniP3 Number: 932472.00 MONA Number: 9492.00
Comments: This is one of 44 species in this genus that occur in North America north of Mexico (Lafontaine and Schmidt, 2010, 2015), 30 of which have been recorded in North Carolina.
Species Status: McBride (2020) has an interesting account of his quest to find the host of the rather mysterious species.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Photographs: MPG, BugGuide, iNaturalist, Google, BAMONA, GBIF, BOLD                                                                                 
Adult Markings: Forbes (1954) describes the ground color as yellow shaded with tawny orange and brown. The subterminal and terminal areas are typically shaded with purplish brown, with a tawny apical patch. The basal area has a contrasting patch of cream or white. The reniform has an yellowish central lunule (often weakly shaded in NC specimens) and the orbicular has a central brown spot.
Adult ID Requirements: Identifiable from good quality photos of unworn specimens.
Immatures and Development: The larvae specialize on Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa). The hatchlings initially bore into the emerging stems of the plants during the spring warm-up. After boring for 3-4 cm of the stem, the third-instar larvae exit the stem and crawl to the ground where they burrow downward for several centimeters, then enter the thick underground storage stem (McBride, 2020). They continue feeding during the summer months, and likely abandon the root burrow in August to pupate in the surrounding soil. The adults eclose about a month later.

The mature larva has a pale, warm brown integument that is darkest on A1-A4. They tend to become paler and more whitish with the deposition of subcutaneous fat. The prothoracic shield lacks the lateral black edging that is present on some congenerics, and there are poorly defined longitudinal middorsal and subdorsal white stripes that are most prominent on A5-A8 and missing on A1-A4. The anal plate is pale brown, and the spiracles are black and roughly twice as high as broad (McBride, 2020).
Distribution in North Carolina
Distribution:
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Flight Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

Click on graph to enlarge
Habitats and Life History
Habitats: Our records come from bottomland forests in the Coastal Plain and from cove forests and high elevation hardwood forests in the Mountains
Larval Host Plants: The larvae appear to be monophagous feeders on Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa).
Wikipedia
See also Habitat Account for General Wet-Mesic Hardwood Forests
Status in North Carolina
Natural Heritage Program Status:
Natural Heritage Program Ranks: G4 S3S4
State Protection: Has no legal protection, although permits are required to collect it on state parks and other public lands.
Comments:

 Photo Gallery for Papaipema marginidens - Wild Yam Borer

Photos: 23

Recorded by: tom ward on 2022-10-25
Buncombe Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: tom ward on 2022-10-24
Buncombe Co.
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Recorded by: tom ward on 2022-10-22
Buncombe Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: tom ward on 2022-10-21
Buncombe Co.
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Recorded by: tom ward on 2022-10-15
Buncombe Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: tom ward on 2022-10-10
Buncombe Co.
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Recorded by: tom ward on 2022-10-06
Buncombe Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: tom ward on 2022-09-30
Buncombe Co.
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Recorded by: tom ward on 2022-09-30
Buncombe Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: tom ward on 2021-10-18
Buncombe Co.
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Recorded by: tom ward on 2021-10-16
Buncombe Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: tom ward on 2021-10-11
Buncombe Co.
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Recorded by: tom ward on 2021-10-10
Buncombe Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: tom ward on 2021-10-09
Buncombe Co.
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Recorded by: tom ward on 2021-10-09
Buncombe Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: tom ward on 2021-10-09
Buncombe Co.
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Recorded by: tom ward on 2021-09-29
Buncombe Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: tom ward on 2020-10-12
Buncombe Co.
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Recorded by: Owen and Pat McConnell on 2019-10-07
Graham Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: Jim Petranka and Becky Elkin on 2019-09-23
Madison Co.
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Recorded by: Jim Petranka and Becky Elkin on 2019-09-23
Madison Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: Vin Stanton on 2018-10-29
Buncombe Co.
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Recorded by: T. DeSantis on 2009-10-24
Camden Co.
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