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Eggs
The eggs are spherical, somewhat flattened, and 0.6 mm in diameter. They are usually pale orange-brown or pink in colour, laid in batches and covered with hair scales from the tip of the abdomen of the female moth. Egg masses measure about 4-7 mm in diameter and appear golden brown because they are covered with body scales of females.
Larva
The larva is hairless, variable in colour (young larvae are light green, the later instars are dark green to brown on their backs, lighter underneath);sides of body with dark and light longitudinal bands;dorsal side with two dark semilunar spots laterally on each segment, except for the prothorax;spots on the first and eighth abdominal segments larger than others, interrupting the lateral lines on the first segment. Though the markings are variable, a bright-yellow stripe along the length of the dorsal surface is characteristic of S. litura larvae.
Larval instars can be distinguished on the basis of head capsule width, ranging from 2.7 to 25 mm. Body length ranges from 2.3 to 32 mm.
Pupa
The pupa is 15-20 mm long, red-brown;tip of abdomen with two small spines.
Adult
Moth, with grey-brown body, 15-20 mm long;wingspan 30-38 mm. The forewings are grey to reddish-brown with a strongly variegated pattern and paler lines along the veins (in males, bluish areas occur on the wing base and tip);the hindwings are greyish-white with grey margins, often with dark veins in S. litura (but without in S. littoralis). See also Schmutterer (1969), Cayrol (1972) and Brown and Dewhurst (1975).

Related invasive species

  • Spodoptera litura

Related Farm Practice

  • Light
Impact


The tobacco caterpillar, S. litura, is one of the most important insect pests of agricultural crops in the Asian tropics. It is widely distributed throughout tropical and temperate Asia, Australasia and the Pacific Islands (Feakin, 1973;Kranz et al., 1977). Records of S. litura having limited distribution in (or being eradicated from) Germany, Russian Federation, Russian Far East, the UK and RĂ©union may in fact refer to S. littoralis. Both S. litura and S. littoralis are totally polyphagous (Brown and Dewhurst, 1975;Holloway, 1989) and therefore have huge potential to invade new areas and/or to adapt to new climatic and/or ecological situations. The Spodoptera group consists of closely related species with similar ecology that are difficult to identify to species level.

Has Cabi datasheet ID
44520
Hosts


The host range of S. litura covers at least 120 species. Among the main crop species attacked by S. litura in the tropics are Colocasia esculenta, cotton, flax, groundnuts, jute, lucerne, maize, rice, soyabeans, tea, tobacco, vegetables (aubergines, Brassica, Capsicum, cucurbit vegetables, Phaseolus, potatoes, sweet potatoes and species of Vigna). Other hosts include ornamentals, wild plants, weeds and shade trees (for example, Leucaena leucocephala, the shade tree of cocoa plantations in Indonesia).
Both S. litura and S. littoralis are totally polyphagous (Brown and Dewhurst, 1975;Holloway, 1989).

Oss tagged
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