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Cotton Ear Worm

Helicoverpa armigera

Photo by Leuba Ridgway
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

A dark caterpillar about 20mm long with a series of white stripes on its back. There were raised black spots on each segment with tufts of setae -these spots appeared prominent on the first few abdominal segments. Creamy white lines ran along both sides. Thoracic prolegs were black and the badominal ones were transluscent. Head was a weak orange colour

Habitat:

Most leafy food crops.

Notes:

Found this eating lettuce ( under a lettuce leaf) in a supermarket !!. Could not take any more shots as there were too many customers around !
This genus is a said to be a serious pest to food and cash crops all over the world.

Reference Links:

Helicoverpa armigera, Helicoverpa armigera

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (2)
Leuba Ridgway
glad to be of help, Martin. There is also the Helicoverpa zea ( New World boll worm). It s reported that the only way to differentiate between H.armigera and H.zea is by studying the morphology of the genitalia ! caterpillars of both moth species look similar but it looks like H.armegira is more common in our parts
MartinL
Oh Leuba, you are a champion. This identifies my unknown spotting from what was my father's burned vegetable garden in Buxton. You've solved it. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/8239250

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Butterflies & Moths of the World
Photographed
PublishedFebruary 28, 2012

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