A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Helicoverpa armigera
A dark caterpillar about 20mm long with a series of white stripes on its back. There were raised black spots on each segment with tufts of setae -these spots appeared prominent on the first few abdominal segments. Creamy white lines ran along both sides. Thoracic prolegs were black and the badominal ones were transluscent. Head was a weak orange colour
Most leafy food crops.
Found this eating lettuce ( under a lettuce leaf) in a supermarket !!. Could not take any more shots as there were too many customers around ! This genus is a said to be a serious pest to food and cash crops all over the world.
Spotted on Feb 25, 2012
Submitted on Feb 28, 2012
2 Comments
glad to be of help, Martin. There is also the Helicoverpa zea ( New World boll worm). It s reported that the only way to differentiate between H.armigera and H.zea is by studying the morphology of the genitalia !
caterpillars of both moth species look similar but it looks like H.armegira is more common in our parts
Oh Leuba, you are a champion. This identifies my unknown spotting from what was my father's burned vegetable garden in Buxton. You've solved it. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/823...