Erionota torus, commonly called Rounded Palm Redeye or Banana Skipper, is a species of Butterfly known to breed specially in monsoon season. It is known to have originated from Papua New Guinea. Its larval host plants are species of Musa (i.e. Banana) and some species of Cocos (i.e. Coconut).
The larvae of this butterfly has been recorded to have been responsible for destroying about 200 sq. km of Banana plantations in Kerala in the year 2013. And in 2014 they are reported to have entered Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. According to our research, Karnataka is the worst hit in the year 2014.
These larvae remained unaffected to the pesticides used i.e. they are resistant to pesticides (Reports from Kerala).)(
The Banana farmers or plantation owners, mainly in Kerala, are having a tough time handling this problem as the larvae are resistant to any pesticides used by them and as its not practically possible to handpick these larvae.
Till date nobody has reported a cure to this problem but, 'If there is a virus, there always is an anti-virus'. So a group of students from our school, Kendriya Vidyalaya No.-1 Jalahalli (West) Bangalore-560015, inspired by the thought that 'If nature creates a problem, it creates it with a solution', have done some on-ground research and are proposing some possible solutions.