I found this cucumber moth resting on my dust pan and the yellow anal tufts fascinated me. Upon checking, I found out its name. It is a female Diaphania indica moth that is found in South Asia, South-East Asia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines and Australia. Males have less developed anal tufts.
The large anal tufts move from side to side to disperse pheromones to attract mates.
At that time, I had planted the smooth loofah (Luffa aegyptiaca) in my garden and this could have been one of its caterpillar food source. Their caterpillars are known to feed on the leaves of cucumber, watermelon and snake gourd. After a few cycles of the smooth loofah planting I began to notice many leaves eaten, leaving only the skeletal remains of the veins. A number of fruits also had larvae burrowed in them.
References:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphania_indica
- https://apps.lucidcentral.org/pppw_v10/text/web_full/entities/cucumber_moth_033.htm
- https://plantwiseplusknowledgebank.org/doi/10.1079/pwkb.species.19657
- https://www.mothidentification.com/cucumber-moth.htm#google_vignette
