Helicoverpa punctigera

Helicoverpa punctigera
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Helicoverpa
Species:
H. punctigera
Binomial name
Helicoverpa punctigera
Synonyms
  • Heliothis punctigera Wallengren, 1860
  • Chloridea marmada Swinhoe, 1918

Helicoverpa punctigera, the native budworm, Australian bollworm or Chloridea marmada, is a species of moth in the family Noctuidae. This species is native to Australia. H. punctigera are capable of long-distance migration from their inland Australian habitat towards coastal regions[2] and are an occasional migrant to New Zealand.[3]

This species is a generalist, with larvae observed feeding on at least 100 plant species, and are considered a pest for tobacco, flax, peas, sunflower, cotton, maize, tomatoes and other crops.[4] Outside of agricultural settings, primary host plants include some Australian native daisies, in particular flat billy buttons Leiocarpa brevicompta,[5] annual yellow tops Senecio gregorii, poached egg daisy Polycamma stuartii,[6] and also the native legume Cullen cinereum.[7]Helicoverpa punctigera is often compared to its cousin species H. armigera who unlike H. punctigera has developed resistance to certain insecticides and other genetically modified cotton crops. The two species can occasionally be confused with one another as they look similar. However, the two species can be differentiated by characteristic differences in their hindwings.[8] H. punctigera is often confused with two other moth species of the family Noctuidae – the Armyworm Moth (Mythimna unipuncta) and the Looper Moth [which?] due to the medium-sized nature of the three species.

  1. ^ "Helicoverpa punctigera (Wallengren, 1860)". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  2. ^ Gregg PC (1993) Pollen as a marker for migration of Helicoverpa armigera and H. punctigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from western Queensland. Australian Journal of Ecology, 18, 209-219.
  3. ^ Bailey, Peter T., ed. (2007). Pests of Field Crops and Pastures: Identification and Control. Collingwood: Csiro Publishing. p. 89. ISBN 9780643067585.
  4. ^ Zalucki MP, Daglish G, Firempong S and Twine P (1986) The biology and ecology of Heliothis armigera (Hubner) and H. punctigera Wallengren (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Australia: what do we know? Australian Journal of Zoology 34, 779-844.
  5. ^ Walter GH and Benfield MD (1994) Temporal host plant use in three polyphagous Heliothinae, with special reference to Helicoverpa punctigera (Wallengren) (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera). Austral Ecology, 19, 458-465.
  6. ^ Zalucki M, Murray D, Gregg P, Fitt G, Twine P and Jones, C. (1994) Ecology of Helicoverpa-Armigera (Hubner) and Heliothis-Punctigera (Wallengren) in the Inland of Australia - Larval Sampling and Host-Plant Relationships During Winter and Spring. Australian Journal of Zoology, 42, 329-346.
  7. ^ Gregg PC, Henderson GS, Del Socorro A, Le Motte K and Birchall C (2016) Polyphagy in an uncertain environment: Helicoverpa punctigera in inland Australia. Austral Ecology, 41, 819-828.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).