Prepared by:
Suzannie L.
18 August 2013
The genus Helicoverpa belongs to the family Noctuidae in the order Lepidoptera. There are 3 dominant pest species, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), H. assulta (Guenée) and H. zea (Boddie) which pose global threat in agricultural industry. Other species, H. fletcheri (Hardwick) and H. punctigera (Wallengren), are known to be endemic pests, thus these are considered to be important pest to that particular countries. In other words, these endemic pests are categorised as quarantine pests to the importing countries. Apart from these species, there are also other species under this genus, however perhaps due to the limited host plants and geographical distribution, these may be considered as pest of little or no significant damage to agriculture.
H. armigera has been reported to cause serious monetary losses in most countries, mainly due to crop yield losses as well as monitoring and control cost. The resistance against chemical insecticides makes the losses to increase significantly whereby the need to search for alternative solutions never ends. Losses caused by H. armigera have been reported in Australia (Wilson, 1982; Twine, 1989), India (Reed and Pawar 1982), Africa (Moyal 1988), Thailand (Mabbett et al. 1980), China (Sheng 1988), and EPPO regions (CABI 2013). In Australia, H. armigera and H. punctigera are known to be most significant agricultural insect pests since H. punctigera is endemic to Australia. It is reported the total cost of control and damage estimated to be at A$250 million annually with 5% residual damage after control (Adamson et al. 1997).
In general, the taxonomic position for genus Helicoverpa is as follows:
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Metazoa
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Uniramia
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Helicoverpa
This website is designed to introduce H. armigera and H. punctigera as agricultural insect pests, describing on the host plants, geographical distribution, biology and difficulties in managing these species.
Suzannie L.
18 August 2013
The genus Helicoverpa belongs to the family Noctuidae in the order Lepidoptera. There are 3 dominant pest species, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), H. assulta (Guenée) and H. zea (Boddie) which pose global threat in agricultural industry. Other species, H. fletcheri (Hardwick) and H. punctigera (Wallengren), are known to be endemic pests, thus these are considered to be important pest to that particular countries. In other words, these endemic pests are categorised as quarantine pests to the importing countries. Apart from these species, there are also other species under this genus, however perhaps due to the limited host plants and geographical distribution, these may be considered as pest of little or no significant damage to agriculture.
H. armigera has been reported to cause serious monetary losses in most countries, mainly due to crop yield losses as well as monitoring and control cost. The resistance against chemical insecticides makes the losses to increase significantly whereby the need to search for alternative solutions never ends. Losses caused by H. armigera have been reported in Australia (Wilson, 1982; Twine, 1989), India (Reed and Pawar 1982), Africa (Moyal 1988), Thailand (Mabbett et al. 1980), China (Sheng 1988), and EPPO regions (CABI 2013). In Australia, H. armigera and H. punctigera are known to be most significant agricultural insect pests since H. punctigera is endemic to Australia. It is reported the total cost of control and damage estimated to be at A$250 million annually with 5% residual damage after control (Adamson et al. 1997).
In general, the taxonomic position for genus Helicoverpa is as follows:
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Metazoa
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Uniramia
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Helicoverpa
This website is designed to introduce H. armigera and H. punctigera as agricultural insect pests, describing on the host plants, geographical distribution, biology and difficulties in managing these species.