Introduction
Besides Helicoverpa punctigera, this species is known as Heliothis punctigera (EPPO 2010). Common names for H. punctigera are native bollworm and climbing cutworm.
Taxonomic position for H. punctigera is as follows:
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Metazoa
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Uniramia
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Helicoverpa
Species: Helicoverpa punctigera
Taxonomic position for H. punctigera is as follows:
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Metazoa
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Uniramia
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Helicoverpa
Species: Helicoverpa punctigera
Geographical distribution
H. punctigera is said to be endemic in Oceania, whereby reports of existence can be found in Australia (Matthews 1999) and New Zealand (Fox, 1976). Figure 2 shows the distribution map of H. punctigera, adapted from CABI (2013).
Figure 2: Distribution map of H. punctigera
Image courtesy of http://www.cabi.org/cpc/?compid=1&dsid=26772&loadmodule=datasheet&page=868&site=161
Image courtesy of http://www.cabi.org/cpc/?compid=1&dsid=26772&loadmodule=datasheet&page=868&site=161
Host plants
Being polyphagous insect, H. punctigera larvae attack a wide range of plant species. Zalucki et al. (1994) reported H. punctigera larvae attacked 47 plant species in 8 families including Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Goodeniaceae and Solanaceae, in Australia.