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Species Spodoptera exigua - Beet Armyworm Moth - Hodges#9665

Small Mottled Willow Moth - Spodoptera exigua Spodoptera exigua ? - Spodoptera exigua Moth to identify - Spodoptera exigua Silverado Moth #2 - Spodoptera exigua Possibly Noctuidae?  - Spodoptera exigua Spodoptera exigua Beet Armyworm larva? - Spodoptera exigua Beet Armyworm Moth? - Spodoptera exigua
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Noctuoidea (Owlet Moths and kin)
Family Noctuidae (Owlet Moths)
Subfamily Noctuinae (Cutworm or Dart Moths)
Tribe Prodeniini
Genus Spodoptera (Armyworm Moths)
Species exigua (Beet Armyworm Moth - Hodges#9665)
Hodges Number
9665
Other Common Names
Small Mottled Willow (Europe); Beet Armyworm (North America)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Spodoptera exigua (Hübner, [1808])
Noctua exigua Hübner, [1808]
* phylogenetic sequence #932215
Numbers
Eleven Spodoptera species are found in America north of Mexico.(1)
Size
Forewing length 11-12 mm.(2)
Identification
Range
Found throughout North America; more common in southern states.
Native to southeast Asia; first discovered in North America about 1876.
Moth Photographers Group - large range map with some collection dates.
Bug Guide - map of photo records submitted to the guide.
Season
Adults can be found year round in the southern states and most records from northern areas are from July to October.
Food
Larvae feed on leaves of a variety of vegetables and weeds.
It feeds on asparagus, beans and peas, sugar and table beets, celery, cole crops, lettuce, potato, tomato, cotton, cereals, oilseeds, tobacco, many flowers, and many of weed species.
Remarks
Considered a serious pest.
Zeo mays releases volatiles which attracts Cotesia marginiventris, a parasitic wasp, to attack the larva.(3)
Print References
Lafontaine, J. D. & B. C. Schmidt 2010. Annotated check list of the Noctuoidea (Insecta, Lepidoptera) of North America North of Mexico. p.71 (1)
Mitchell, E.R. 1979. Migration by Spodoptera exigua and S. frugiperda, North America style, Pp. 386-393. In: Rabb, L.R. & G.G. Kennedy (eds.). Movement of highly mobile insects: Concepts and methodology research. North Carolina State University.
Powell, J. A. & P. A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. University of California Press. p.294, pl.52.55 (2)
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group - range map, some collection records, living and pinned adults.
BOLD - Barcode of Life Data Systems - collection map and photos of pinned adults.
pinned adult images (Bruce Walsh, Moths of Southeastern Arizona)
Moth Photographers Group - photo of pinned adult and related species.
Works Cited
1.Annotated check list of the Noctuoidea (Insecta, Lepidoptera) of North America north of Mexico.
Donald J. Lafontaine, B. Christian Schmidt. 2010. ZooKeys 40: 1–239 .
2.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
3.Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry
J.B. Harborne. 1993. Academic Press Limited.