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)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.