Chloridea virescens

Chloridea virescens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Subfamily: Heliothinae
Genus: Chloridea
Species:
C. virescens
Binomial name
Chloridea virescens
(Fabricius, 1777)
Synonyms
  • Heliothis virescens (Fabricius, 1777)
  • Noctua virescens Fabricius, 1777
  • Phalaena rhexiae Smith, 1797
  • Xanthia viridescens Walker, 1857
  • Xanthia prasina Walker, 1857
  • Heliothis spectanda Strecker, 1876
  • Aspila rhexiae
  • Chloridea rhexiae
Caterpillar on chickory flower

Chloridea virescens, commonly known as the tobacco budworm, is a moth of the family Noctuidae found throughout the eastern and southwestern United States along with parts of Central America and South America.[1]

It is a major pest of field crops including tobacco (as its common name suggests) and cotton. However, it is able to thrive on a wide variety of host plants ranging from fruits, vegetables, flowers, and weeds.[1] Control of this pest has proven to be particularly difficult due to a variety of factors, but widespread insecticide and pesticide resistance have proven particularly concerning.

Chloridea virescens was formerly a member of the genus Heliothis, but was moved to the reinstated genus Chloridea as a result of genetic and morphological research published in 2013.[2][3]

  1. ^ a b "tobacco budworm - Heliothis virescens (Fabricius)". entnemdept.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pogue2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pohl2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).