Persectania dyscrita

Persectania dyscrita Common, 1954
Inland Armyworm
HADENINAE, NOCTUIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Persectania dyscrita
(Photo: courtesy of Cesar Australia)

This Caterpillar is an agricultural pest, causing damage to pastures and crops.

The adult moth has fawn forewings, each with a pattern of pale and dark angular patches, including, near the centre, a pale ellipse and a reniform mark, sometimes joined by a short pale bar. The hindwings are buff, darkening to the margin, with dark veins. The moths have a wingspan of about 4 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of Wendy Moore Freshwater Creek, Victoria)

The species has been found all over Australia, including:

Northern Territory,

South Australia, and

(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The pest may be controlled using :

spraying with insecticides,

beetles such as Calosoma species ( CARABIDAE),

flies such as Palexorista species, ( TACHINIDAE),

wasps such as Apanteles ruficrus ( BRACONIDAE), and

nematodes such as Steinernema carpocapsae ( STEINERNEMATIDAE).

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 65.

Ian F.B. Common,
The Australian armyworms of the genus Persectania (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae),
Australian Journal of Zoology,
Volume 2 (1954) p. 94.

Peter Marriott & Marilyn Hewish,
Moths of Victoria - Part 9,
Cutworms and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA (C),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2020, pp. 26-27.

Paul Zborowski and Ted Edwards,
A Guide to Australian Moths,
CSIRO Publishing, 2007, p. 198.

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(updated 14 November 2010, 29 August 2024)