Psara licarsisalis (Walker)

Swezey, O. H., 1946, Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Arctiidae, Agrotidae, and Pyralidae of Guam, Insects of Guam II, Honolulu, Hawaii: Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 189, pp. 163-185 : 183-184

38. Psara licarsisalis (Walker) .

Botys licarsisalis Walker, Cat. 18: 686, 1859.

Pachyzancla licarsisalis, Hampson, Fauna Brit. India, Moths 4: 402, 1896.

Psara licarsisalis, Tams, Ins. Samoa 3 (4): 286, 1935.

Piti , May 8, 22, July 27, Aug. 11, 16, 24, Sept. 4, 11, 12, 13, 28, Oct. 6, 18, Nov. 26; Agana , May 15; Tarague , May 17; Orote Peninsula, Aug. 2. All by Swezey. Five specimens in U. S. National Museum and one in Bishop Museum , Fullaway , 1911 .

Widely distributed from India, Ceylon, Malacca, China, Japan, Java, Borneo, Marshall Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Society Islands, Austral Islands, and Australia. It was common in Guam, many coming to light at Piti . Fullaway reported a pyraustid moth (probably this species) which was destructive to lawns in 1911 . We did not find it so abundant as to be injurious, but found its caterpillars feeding in the turf in grasslands, hiding under bits of board and under edges of dried cow droppings, or in webbed dead grass leaves. The moths were very abundant among weeds in a cornfield adjacent to a Panicuni grass field, but at the time I did not find any caterpillars.