Spodoptera exempta
Authors/Creators
- 1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Zambia, P. O. Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia
- 2. Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium & Australian National Insect Collection, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra, Australia
Description
Spodoptera exempta (Walker, 1857a) *
COMMON NAME(S): African army worm, Nutgrass army worm, Okalombo, Kommandowurm or Dayfeeding army worm.
SYNONYM(S): Prodenia bipars Walker, 1857b; Prodenia ingloria Walker, 1858d; Prodenia metriodes Bethune-Baker, 1911.
IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).
DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Lusaka **, Chilanga ** and Kafue **, in Lusaka Province; Chisamba ** and Mkushi **, in Central Province; Ndola, in Copperbelt Province; Portion of the Southern Africa biodiversity conservation four corners area in Zambia in Northwestern, Western and Southern Provinces of the country.
LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): Larval foodplants include Gossypium, Zea mays L., Sorghum, Oryza and Triticum. The African armyworm (AAW), is a very deleterious pest, capable of destroying entire crops in a matter of weeks. The larvae feed on all types of grasses, early stages of cereal crops (e.g., corn, rice, wheat, millet, sorghum), sugar cane, and occasionally on coconut. The armyworm gets its name from its habit of “marching” in large numbers from grasslands into crops. AAWs tend to occur at very high densities during the rainy season, especially after periods of prolonged drought. Because outbreaks are never observed during the dry season, it is called the “off-season” by those that monitor AAWs.
The following parasitoids have been recorded for the taxon in South Africa: A Eulophid (Eulophidae) Microplitis sp.; The braconids (Braconidae), Apanteles sp., Chelonus sp., Meteorus sp. and Microplitis sp.; and the Ichneumonids (Ichneumonidae) Campoletis sp., Enicospilus sp., Netelia sp. and Pimpla sp. No parasitoids have been recorded for the taxon in Zambia.
SOURCES: African Moths 2019; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Gardiner 2004; Haggis 1986; Prinsloo & Uys 2015.
Notes
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Linked records
Additional details
Identifiers
Biodiversity
- Scientific name authorship
- Walker
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Noctuidae
- Genus
- Spodoptera
- Species
- exempta
- Taxon rank
- species
- Taxonomic concept label
- Spodoptera exempta (Walker, 1857) sec. Mbata & Prins, 2023
References
- Walker, F. (1857 a) n. k. In: List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. Part X. Noctuidae. The Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London, pp. i - iv + 253 - 491. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / page / 39339954]
- Walker, F. (1857 b) n. k. In: List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. Part XI. Noctuidae. The Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London, pp. i - iv + 493 - 764. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / page / 39339954]
- Walker, F. (1858 d) n. k. In: List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. Part XV. Noctuidae. The Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London, pp. i - iv + 1521 - 1888. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / page / 39337530]
- Bethune-Baker, G. T. (1911) Descriptions of new African Heterocera. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 8, 7 (42), 530 - 576. [https: // www. biodiversitylibrary. org / page / 22098491] https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 00222931108692976
- African Moths (2019) Not available anymore from https: // africanmoths. com / (accessed 23 November 2019)
- De Prins, J. & De Prins, W. (2022) Afromoths, online database of Afrotropical moth species (Lepidoptera). World Wide Web electronic publication. Available from: https: // www. afromoths. net / (accessed 20 June 2023)
- Gardiner, A. (2004) Chapter 10: Butterflies of the Four Corners Area. In: Timberlake, J. R. & Childes, S. L., Biodiversity of the Four Corners Area: Technical Reviews Volume Two (Chapters 5 - 15). Occasional Publications in Biodiversity. No. 15. Biodiversity Foundation for Africa, Bulawayo / The Zambezi Society, Harare, pp. 1 - 31. [http: // www. biodiversityfoundation. org / documents / Chap 10 _ Butterflies. pdf]
- Haggis, M. J. (1986) Distribution of the African armyworm, Spodoptera exempta (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), and the frequency of larval outbreaks in Africa and Arabia. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 76, 151 - 170. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0007485300015376
- Prinsloo, G. L. & Uys, V. M. (Eds.) (2015) Insects of cultivated plants and natural pastures in Southern Africa. Entomological Society of Southern Africa, Hatfield, xiv + 785 pp.