Leucania abdominalis (Walker, 1856) Plain Armyworm (formerly known as Nonagria abdominalis) HADENINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

These caterpillars are a pest on sugarcane. This species and several similar species are called Sugarcane Armyworms. The caterpillars strip the leaves, just leaving the centre vein.

(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

The adult moths of this species have a forewing that is pale brown with a scattering of black dots. The hindwings are white shading to brown at the margins. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

The moths are found in :

Victoria.

male, drawing by George Francis Hampson, listed as Cirphis abdominalis,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum,
Noctuidæ, Volume V (1905), Plate XCI, figure 24,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

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Further reading :

Francis Walker,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 9 (1856), p. 131, No. 24.

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(updated 13 April 2013)