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Spodoptera mauritia

Tropical-grass Armyworm

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Image:	Female and male	51KB
Image:	Female - two views	53KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Tropical-grass Armyworm, Lawn Army Moth

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: Africa - Indonesia / Australia - French Polynesia, s. to Rapa

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; S.Group; ?; Land, lowlands

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: ; Pest

KEY FEATURES: Medium moth (12-14mmTL) greyish brown with diffuse, obscure whitish dots and grey patterns on fore wing.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Spodoptera litura (tropical cluster grub) LACKS the network pattern of fine pale lines on a brown ground (vs present); and LACKS any pale blue-white scale patches (vs present).

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			P

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Spodoptera mauritia (Boisduval, 1833)
SYNONYMS: Spodoptera mauritia acronyctoides; Prodenia acronyctoides

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; ARTHROPODA; ATELOCERATA; HEXAPODA; INSECTA; PTERYGOTA; Lepidoptera; NOCTUIDAE

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: Medium moth (12-14mmTL) greyish brown with diffuse, obscure whitish dots and grey patterns on fore wing. Fore wings greyish brown variously suffused with darker brown markings and with two rows of faint white spots crossing the wing; also diffuse white cell spot associated with brownish black triangular patch. Hind wings pearly grey translucent without lines, but some veins and wing margin edged in brownish black. Underside brownish grey, hind wings paler. Head, Thorax, Abdomen, Legs and Antennae light grey.

GENERAL NOTE: Eggs laid in wooly masses on the sides of buildings, posts, trunks; caterpillars typical cutworms, feeding on monocotyledones (e.g., banana, grass) [ Spodoptera litura larvae feed on dicotyledones, (i.e., most cash crops). Adults nocturnal.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: specimen+photo, 1995, S.Montgomery, in BPBM, ID G.McCormack as Spodoptera mauritia 4/2004; specimen+photo, BESO99, specimen #233, 253, ID J.Dugdale 4/2000. Pukapuka specimen+photo, 2/2004 G.McCormack to BPBM with ID as Spodoptera mauritia.

References:
Special Reference: PM79

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM05a, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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