Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-f46jp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-27T04:35:24.351Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New evidence on the migration of moths of the African armyworm, Spodoptera exempta (Wlk.) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

E. S. Brown  and
G. Swaine
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Fresh evidence is described which supports the theory that moths of the Noctuid Spodoptera exempta (Wlk.) (the adult stage of the African armyworm) are migratory. The evidence comes from four main sources: a study of fluctuations in numbers of moths caught in a network of light-traps operated in East Africa; the fertilisation rates in samples of females as shown by dissection; the sex ratios in samples of moths caught in light-traps; and a study of the behaviour of moths in the field during the period immediately following emergence. In certain of these features S. exempta is compared and contrasted with the related S. triturata (Wlk.), in which the evidence points against extensive migration.

It is concluded that migration occurs in S. exempta, probably on an extensive scale, and that it therefore has an important bearing on the occurrence and distribution of outbreaks of the larvae.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , August 1966 , pp. 671 - 684
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1966

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brown, E. S. (1962). The African armyworm Spodoptera exempta (Walker) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae): a review of the literature.—57 pp., multigraph. London, Commonw. Inst. Ent.Google Scholar
Brown, E. S. (1964). Armyworm research.—Rec. Res. E. Afr. Agric. For. Res. Org. 1963 pp. 63–74.Google Scholar
Brown, E. S. (1965). Notes on the migration and direction of flight of Eurygaster and Aelia species (Hemiptera, Pentatomoidea) and their possible bearing on invasions of cereal crops.—Anim. Ecol. 34 pp. 93–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiang, H. C. (1960). Armyworm moth (Pseudaletia unipuncta) flight in Duluth, Min.—Proc. Minn. Acad. Sci. 28 pp. 81–86.Google Scholar
Faure, J. C. (1943). Phase variation in the armyworm, Laphygma exempta (Walk.).—Sci. Bull. Dep. Agric. For. S. Afr. no. 234, 17 pp.Google Scholar
Harris, W. V. (1944). The Armyworm.—E. Afr. agric. J. 10 pp. 2–6.Google Scholar
Hattingh, C. C. (1941). The biology and ecology of the armyworm (Laphygma exempta) and its control in South Africa.—Sci. Bull. Dep. Agric. For. S. Afr. no. 217, 50 pp.Google Scholar
Johnson, C. G. (1960). A basis for a general system of insect migration and dispersal by flight.—Nature, Lond. 186 no. 4722 pp. 348–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, J. S. (1961). A turning point in the study of insect migration.—Nature, Lond. 189 no. 4767 pp. 785–791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laird, M. A. (1962). A flight of insects in the Gulf of Aden.—Verh. XI. Kongr. Ent. 3 pp. 35–36.Google Scholar
Matthee, J. J. (1952). The occurrence of the armyworm (Laphygma exempta (Walk.) in and around Pretoria.—J. ent. Soc. S. Afr. 15 pp. 122–128.Google Scholar
Rainey, R. C. (1963). Meteorology and the migration of desert locusts.—Tech. Note World met. Org. no. 54, 115 pp.Google Scholar
Sayer, H. J. (1962). The desert locust and tropical convergence.—Nature, Lond. 194 no. 4826 pp. 330–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swaine, G. (1963). Fighting the armyworm.—New Scient. 17 no. 326 pp. 357–358.Google Scholar
Whellan, J. A. (1954). The African armyworm and its control.—Rhod. agric. J. 51 pp. 415–127.Google Scholar