Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T04:55:46.333Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Activity of adult Heliothis armigera (Hb.) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) with reference to the flowering of sorghum and maize in Botswana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

R. E. Roome
R. E. Roome*
Affiliation:
Centre for Overseas Pest Research, College House, Wrights Lane, London W8 5SJ
*
* Author was seconded to the Agricultural Research Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Botswana, as part of the United Kingdom Overseas Development Administration's Dryland Farming Research Scheme.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Night-time observations on adults of Heliothis armigera (Hb.), and data from light-trap and hand net catches in irrigated and dryland crops, showed that both sexes flew and fed and females oviposited between 20.00 and 23.00 h. From then until 02.00 h both sexes were inactive, but. from 02.00 to 04.00 h the males flew above the crop in a ‘purposeful’ manner, while the females were stationary and releasing pheromone. During this period of high male and low female activity, copulation in cages, assembly of males to females in cages and copulating pairs on crop plants were all observed. Inseminated female H. armigera were collected in crops which were at a stage suitable for oviposition, while traps away from crops or near mature crops collected mainly virgin females. It is suggested that susceptible crops attract H. armigera adults and that, once within the crop, inseminated females are ‘trapped’ by suitable physiological cues from the plants. Identification of such cues could assist in the breeding of crop varieties resistant to H. armigera attack.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 65 , Issue 3 , October 1975 , pp. 523 - 530
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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

Callahan, P. S. (1957). Oviposition response of the corn earworm to differences in surface texture.—J. Kans. ent. Soc. 30, 59–63.Google Scholar
Hardwick, D. F. (1965). The corn earworm complex.—Mem. entomol. Soc. Can. no. 40, 247 pp.Google Scholar
Ignoffo, C. N. (1965). The nuclear-polyhedrosis virus of Heliothis zea (Boddie) and Heliothis virescens (Fabricius). II. Biology and propagation of diet-reared Heliothis.—J. invertebr. Pathol. 7, 217–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parsons, F. S. (1940). Investigations on the cotton bollworm, Heliothis armigera Hübn. Part III. Relationships between oviposition and the flowering curves of food-plants.—Bull. ent. Res. 31, 147–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, W. (1965). Heliothis armigera (Hb.) (Noctuidae) in Western Tanganyika. II. Ecology and natural and chemical control.—Bull. ent. Res. 56, 127–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rooms, R. E. (1971). Field studies on the biology of Heliothis armigera (Hbn.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Botswana.—Proc. Cott. Insect Control Conf., 32–46.Google Scholar
Shorey, H. H. (1964). Sex pheromones of Noctuid moths. II. Mating behaviour of Trichoplusia ni (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) with special reference to the role of the sex pheromone.—Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 57, 371–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sower, L. L., Shorey, H. H. & Gaston, L. K. (1970). Sex pheromones of Noctuid moths. XXI Light: dark cycle regulation and light inhibition of sex pheromone release by females of Trichoplusia ni.—Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 63, 1090–1092.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yamamoto, R. T., Jenkins, R. Y. & McClusky, R. K. (1969). Factors determining the selection of plants for oviposition by the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta.—Entomologia exp. appl. 12, 504–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar