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Project Noah Nature School
Mythimna separata
The body shape is roughly triangular and triangles abound on it in other ways too...there is a sort of trident pattern on the wings...a single vertical line with an inverted V joining it towards the base. Two indistinct dots; one on either side.
it was flushed out of the grass as I walked in my backyard and flew to rest on the netting on a window.
It is called armyworm because it marches fowrward devouring everything in its path! Wikipedia says it is an agricultural pest of maize, sorghum and rice...none of these grow in my backyard. I do have a thriving Momordica charantia plant which yields bitter gourds...but Wikipedia says triterpenoid glucoside is a natural inhibitor of caterpillar actions, so it does not feed on it. What was it doing in my backyard? What did it eat as a caterpillar? I will never know.
Spotted on Nov 24, 2020
Submitted on Nov 24, 2020
