Fall Armyworm: WWW - Moccae.gov - Ae

Fall Armyworm
2019
www.moccae.gov.ae
Fall Armyworm
Scientific Name Spodoptera frugiperda
Fall Armyworm /
Common Name
American Armyworm
Classification Noctuidae / Lepidoptera/ Insecta
80 – 100
Host Plants
Citrus Brassica
poaceae (grasses) Solanaceae

Cucurbitaceae Ornamental plants & others
The insect can spread during its various

Methods of
stages (full insect, larva, virgin, egg) on its
hosts through international trade
proliferation
& spreading Spread naturally with the wind
Fall Armyworm
Description
Eggs:
Spherical (0.75 mm diameter); they are green
at the time of oviposition and become light
brown prior to eclosion. The egg mass is
usually covered with layer of grey-pink scales
(setae) from the female abdomen.
Larvae:
Length: 2 mm long in the first instar and
they reach 35-50 mm in the sixth instar.
Color: On hatching they are green with
black lines and spots. If crowded (by a high
population density and food shortage) the final instar can be almost black in
its armyworm phase. Large larvae are characterized by an inverted Y-shape
in yellow on the head, black dorsal pinaculae with long primary setae (two
each side of each segment within the pale dorsal zone) and four black spots
arranged in a square on the last abdominal segment.
Pupae:
Shorter than mature larvae (1.3-1.5 cm in
males and 1.6-1.7 cm in females in Mexico),
and are shiny brown.
Adult:
Body length: 1.6 cm
Wingspan: 3.7 cm
The color of the forewing: Mottled (light
brown, grey, straw) with triangular patches
at its tip and near its center
The color of the back wings: Between silver and white,
and the edges are dark and narrow in both genders.
1. ©Ronald Smith/Auburn University/Bugwood.org - CC BY 3.0 US

2. ©Phil Sloderbeck/Kansas State University/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US
3. Photo by: Diedrich Visser, (ARC - VOP), Roodeplaat
4. ©Lyle J. Buss/University of Florida/Bugwood.org - CC BY 3.0 US
Fall Armyworm
Symptoms
Seedlings are fed upon within the whorl. Larger larvae can cut the base
of the plant. Mature plants suffer attack on reproductive structures. On
tomato plants, buds and growing points may be eaten and fruits pierced.
Maize leaves are eaten and the whorl (funnel) may be a mass of holes,
ragged edges and larval frass. Young larvae skeletonize the leaf lamina. Early
in the season, severe feeding damage to young plants can kill the growing
point; a symptom called 'dead heart' in maize. Maize plants may have
the cobs attacked by larvae boring through the kernels. At high densities,
large larvae may act as armyworms and disperse in swarms, but they often
remain in the locality on wild grasses, if available.
Biology and Ecology

The female armyworm lays her Pupation takes place inside a
eggs on the lower surface of the loose cocoon in an earthen cell 10
leaves in tight clusters of 100-400. cm deep, or rarely between leaves
on the host plant, and 7-14 days
Each female lays 1000 are required for development.
to 2000 eggs
Hatching usually requires 3-5 days Adults emerge at night, and they
revealing young larvae with black typically use their natural pre-
heads and greenish color. oviposition period to fly for many
kilometers before they settle to
The insect has 6 larvae and the last oviposit, sometimes migrating
stage is the one that consumes the for long distances. The life cycle
larger quantities of the host and takes one month in summer, two
the main cause of the damage. months in spring and autumn,
and three months in winter.
The larva disappear during the day The insect has one generation or
but comes out at night to feed on a few generations per year.
the leaves.
Fall Armyworm
Geographical
distribution
The Americas:
USA, Ecuador, Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Paraguay,
Honduras and Costa Rica.
Present
Settlers
Widespread
Occasional
Comers
Africa:
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameron, Chad,
Congo, the Republic of the Congo,
Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya,
Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia,
Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome
and Principe, South Africa, Sudan,
Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda,
Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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Fall Armyworm

Scientific Name Spodoptera frugiperda

Classification Noctuidae / Lepidoptera/ Insecta

poaceae (grasses) Solanaceae

The insect can spread during its various

1. ©Ronald Smith/Auburn University/Bugwood.org - CC BY 3.0 US

Biology and Ecology

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