This moth occurs in many tropical and subtropical regions outside the Americas, though it is native to southern Asia; it is occasionally a significant pest of cucurbits and some other plants.

This species was originally described by William Wilson Saunders in 1851 under the misspelled name Eudioptes indica (properly:Eudioptis), using specimens from Java.

In the male, the clasper's harpe is twice as long as it is wide, with the costa and sacculus running almost in parallel and being strongly sclerotized, and a rounded cucullus.

[1] Host plants are usually[verification needed] eurosids and include:[1] Despite its characteristic appearance, the cucumber moth was described as a new species several times, leading to a number of junior synonyms.

Actually, the moth's populations at the latter two locations, as well as the specimens from Limpopo and Orange Rivers from which Philipp Christoph Zeller described his Eudioptis capensis, seem to have been merely introduced there as pests in ships' stores.

Finally, in 1931 Hudson, recognizing that Saunders and Walker were quite correct in their original assessments, but that Eudioptis and Phakellura were junior synonyms of Diaphania, placed the moth in its current genus.

Shin et al. in 1983 sided with Fletcher and proposed to move the species to Palpita (the senior synonym of Margaronia), but subsequent authors have generally preferred Hudson's treatment.