none The coconut black-headed caterpillar, Opisina arenosella Wlk. (=Nephantis serinopa Meyr.) (Lepidoptera, Xyloryctidae) has become an increasingly serious threat to coconut palms in India. With the ever-increasing cultivation of this crop, both in the traditional coastal tracts and in the interior plains, the pest is spreading to new areas. From February to April 1983 and from August 1983 to April 1984, severe outbreaks of the coconut caterpillar occurred in several parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Nutrition; Diet; Parasites diseases and disorders; Parasites; Insect parasites; Hosts; Insect hosts; Host parasite relationships; Ecology; Population dynamics; Land and freshwater zones; Oriental region Opisina arenosella (Xyloryctidae); Food plants; Cocos nucifera (coconut) & Musa acuminata (banana); New record, larval feeding damage & irruption; Hymenopteran parasites; Apanteles taragamae & Parasierola nephantidis; Prevalence; Apanteles taragamae & Parasierola nephantidis (Hymenoptera); Irruption; Damage to food plant relationship; India; Andhra Pradesh; Guntur district; New food plant record, feeding damage, irruption & hymenopteran parasites Apanteles taragamae (Braconidae ); Parasierola nephantidis (Bethylidae ); Lepidopteran hosts; Opisina arenosella; Prevalence; Opisina arenosella (Lepidoptera); India; Andhra Pradesh; Guntur district; Lepidopteran host