![]() | Beet Armyworm (one synonym : Caradrina pygmaea Rambur, 1834) AMPHIPYRINAE, NOCTUIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@outlook.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Webshots)
These Caterpillars are an international agricultural pest on crops and pastures, feeding on many plants, including :
as well as various wild hosts, including :
The caterpillar burrows into the soil below the plant where it pupates without a cocoon.
The adult moths are brown with a complex pattern including pale kidney-shaped marks on the forewings. The moths have a wingspan of about 3 cms. The pheromones of this species have been identified.
The eggs are laid in masses of about 80 and covered in pale scales.
The species is found world-wide, eg:
and over much of Australia including:
Control is being attempted using :
Further reading :
David Carter,
Butterflies and Moths,
Collins Eyewitness Handbooks, Sydney 1992, p. 258.
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 49.3, pp. 25, 65, 462.
Jacob Hübner,
Horde. Phalanx IV. Eulen; Noctuae,
Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge. Noctuae II,
Volume 4 (1808), Plate 78, fig. 362.
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![]() butterflies |
![]() caterpillars |
![]() moths |
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(updated 1 July 2010, 10 April 2017)