Spodoptera litura Fabricius
Noctua, litura Fabricius, 1775, Syst. Ent.: 601.
Noctua histrionica Fabricius, 1775, Syst. Ent.: 612.
Noctua elata Fabricius, 1781, Species Insect., 2: 220.
Prodenia ciligera Guenee, 1852, Hist., nat. Insectes, Spec. gen. Lep., 5: 164.
Prodenia tasmanica Guenee, 1852, Ibid., 5:163.
Prodenia subterminalis Walker, 1856, List Specimens lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus., 9:196.
Prodenia glaucistriga Walker, 1856, Ibid ., 9:197.
Prodenia declinata Walker, 1857, Ibid ., 11: 723.
Mamestra albisparsa Walker, 1862, J. Linn. Soc. Lond. (Zool.) 6:186.
Prodenia evanescens Butler, 1884, Mem. natn. Acad. Sci ., 2: 94.
Spodoptera litura Fabricius; Holloway, 1976: 12.
Diagnosis
The forewing is more strikingly patterned than in the species already discussed. The stigmata of the forewing cell are delineated pale cream on a dark brown ground, the orbicular produced into a streak towards the tornus, crossing the cubital vein that is also picked out in pale cream. There is an extensive dull violet subapical zone.
Geographical range
Indo-Australian and Pacific tropics and subtropics.
Habitat preference
The species is found in similar habitats to S. mauritia, open, cultivated or disturbed areas in the lowlands.
Biology
The cutting edge of the mandibles of the larva is serrate. The larva (above) is mainly light or dark brown, never green; abdominal segments 1 and 8 have subdorsal black segmental spots larger than on other segments. The larva differs from that of littoralis in having a bright yellow dorsal stripe (Brown & Dewhurst, 1975), though this is not evident in the larvae illustrated by Sugi (1987), or in the description by Sevastopulo (1935a) who noted the ground colour as purplish black.
Some host-plants recorded (Mathur et al., 1954-1960; Robinson, 1975; Miyata, 1983) are, from over 40 families, as follows: Allium (Alliaceae); Mangifera (Anacardiaceae); Carissa (Apocynaceae); Alocasia, Colocasia (Araceae); Basella (Basellaceae); Begonia (Begoniaceae); Canna (Cannaceae); Carica (Caricaceae); Casuarina (Casuarinaceae); Terminalia (Combretaceae); Blumea, Dahlia, Helianthus, Lactuca, Synedrella, Zinnia (Compositae); Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae); Brassica (Cruciferae); Cucurbita (Cucurbitaceae); Dioscorea (Dioscoreaceae); Diospyros (Ebenaceae); Euphorbia, Ricinus (Euphorbiaceae); Andropogon, Lepturus, Saccharum,Thuarea, Zea (Gramineae); Cassytha (Lauraceae); Acacia, Canavalia, Dolichos, Glycine, Indigofera, Inocarpus, Medicago, Mimosa, Mucuna, Phaseolus, Sesbania (Leguminosae); Asparagus, Eucharis (Liliaceae); Geniostoma (Loganiaceae); Gossypium, Sida (Malvaceae); Ficus (Moraceae); Musa (Musaceae); Psidium (Myrtaceae); Boerhavia (Nyctaginaceae); Passiflora (Passifloraceae); Piper (Piperaceae); Polygonum (Polygonaceae); Eichhornia (Pontederiaceae); Rosa (Rosaceae); Morinda (Rubiaceae); Citrus (Rutaceae); Antirrhinum (Scrophulariaceae); Lycopersicon, Nicotiana, Solanum (Solanaceae); Theobroma (Sterculiaceae); Camellia (Theaceae); Triumfetta (Tiliaceae); Daucus (Umbelliferae); Laportea (Urticaceae); Lantana, Tectona (Verbenaceae)
Brown & Dewhurst (1975) listed 40 plant families and 87 plant species of economic importance attacked by larvae of the African sister- species S. littoralis boisduval.
Genitalia:
