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Spodoptera
litura Fabricius
Noctua,
litura Fabricius, 1775, Syst. Ent.: 601.
Noctua
histrionica Fabricius, 1775, Syst. Ent.: 612.
Noctua elata Fabricius,
1781, Species Insect., 2: 220.
Prodenia
ciligera Guenee, 1852, Hist, nat. Insectes, Spec. gen. Lep., 5: 164.
Prodenia
tasmanica Guenee, 1852, Ibid., 5:163.
Prodenia
subterminalis Walker, 1856, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus.,
9:196.
Prodenia glaucistriga Walker, 1856, Ibid., 9:197.
Prodenia declinata Walker, 1857, Ibid., 11: 723.
Mamestra albisparsa Walker, 1862, J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.)
6:186.
Prodenia evanescens Butler, 1884, Mem. natn. Acad. Sci., 2: 94.
Spodoptera litura Fabricius; Holloway, 1976: 12.
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Spodoptera
litura
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Diagnosis.
The forewing is more strikingly patterned than in the species already discussed.
The stigmata of the forewing cell are delineated pale cream on a dark brown
ground, the orbicular produced into a streak towards the tornus, crossing the
cubital vein that is also picked out in pale cream. There is an extensive dull
violet subapical zone.
Geographical
range. Indo-Australian and Pacific tropics and subtropics.
Habitat
preference. The species is found in similar habitats to S. mauritia,
open, cultivated or disturbed areas in the lowlands.
Biology.
The cutting edge of the mandibles of the larva is serrate. The larva (above)
is mainly light or dark brown, never green; abdominal segments 1 and 8 have
subdorsal black segmental spots larger than on other segments. The larva differs
from that of littoralis in having a bright yellow dorsal stripe (Brown
& Dewhurst, 1975), though this is not evident in the larvae illustrated by
Sugi (1987), or in the description by Sevastopulo (1935a) who noted the ground
colour as purplish black.
Some
host-plants recorded (Mathur et al., 1954-1960; Robinson, 1975; Miyata,
1983) are, from over 40 families, as follows: Allium (Alliaceae); Mangifera
(Anacardiaceae); Carissa (Apocynaceae); Alocasia, Colocasia
(Araceae); Basella (Basellaceae); Begonia (Begoniaceae); Canna
(Cannaceae); Carica (Caricaceae); Casuarina (Casuarinaceae); Terminalia
(Combretaceae); Blumea, Dahlia, Helianthus, Lactuca, Synedrella, Zinnia (Compositae);
Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae); Brassica (Cruciferae); Cucurbita
(Cucurbitaceae); Dioscorea (Dioscoreaceae); Diospyros (Ebenaceae);
Euphorbia, Ricinus (Euphorbiaceae); Andropogon, Lepturus,
Saccharum,Thuarea, Zea (Gramineae); Cassytha (Lauraceae); Acacia,
Canavalia, Dolichos, Glycine, Indigofera, Inocarpus, Medicago, Mimosa, Mucuna,
Phaseolus, Sesbania (Leguminosae); Asparagus, Eucharis (Liliaceae); Geniostoma
(Loganiaceae); Gossypium, Sida (Malvaceae); Ficus (Moraceae); Musa
(Musaceae); Psidium (Myrtaceae); Boerhavia (Nyctaginaceae); Passiflora
(Passifloraceae); Piper (Piperaceae); Polygonum (Polygonaceae); Eichhornia
(Pontederiaceae); Rosa (Rosaceae); Morinda (Rubiaceae); Citrus
(Rutaceae); Antirrhinum (Scrophulariaceae); Lycopersicon, Nicotiana,
Solanum (Solanaceae); Theobroma (Sterculiaceae); Camellia (Theaceae);
Triumfetta (Tiliaceae)
; Daucus (Umbelliferae); Laportea (Urticaceae) ; Lantana,
Tectona
(Verbenaceae)
Brown & Dewhurst (1975) listed 40 plant families and 87 plant species of
economic importance attacked by larvae of the African sister- species S.
littoralis
Boisduval.
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