The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other families of the Noctuoidea. It was considered the largest family in Lepidoptera for a long time, but after regrouping Lymantriinae, Catocalinae and Calpinae within the family Erebidae, the latter holds this title now. Currently, Noctuidae is the second largest family in Noctuoidea, with about 1,089 genera and 11,772 species. This classification is still contingent, as more changes continue to appear between Noctuidae and Erebidae.
Sf21 is a continuous cell line developed from ovaries of the Fall Army worm, Spodoptera frugiperda, a moth species that is an agricultural pest on corn and other grass species. It was originally developed in the United States at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. Sf9 is a substrain (clone) of these cells that was isolated from Sf21 by researchers at Texas A&M University.
The African armyworm, also called okalombo, kommandowurm, or nutgrass armyworm, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. The larvae often exhibit marching behavior when traveling to feeding sites, leading to the common name "armyworm". The caterpillars exhibit density-dependent polyphenism where larvae raised in isolation are green, while those raised in groups are black. These phases are termed solitaria and gregaria, respectively. Gregaria caterpillars are considered very deleterious pests, capable of destroying entire crops in a matter of weeks. The larvae feed on all types of grasses, early stages of cereal crops, sugarcane, and occasionally on coconut. The solitaria caterpillars are less active and undergo much slower development. The species is commonly found in Africa, but can also be seen in Yemen, some Pacific islands, and parts of Australia. African armyworm outbreaks tend to be devastating for farmland and pasture in these areas, with the highest-density outbreaks occurring during the rainy season after periods of prolonged drought. During the long dry seasons ("off-season"), the population densities are very low and no outbreaks are seen.
Spodoptera litura, otherwise known as the tobacco cutworm or cotton leafworm, is a nocturnal moth in the family Noctuidae. S. litura is a serious polyphagous pest in Asia, Oceania, and the Indian subcontinent that was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. Its common names reference two of the most frequent host plants of the moth. In total, 87 species of host plants that are infested by S. litura are of economic importance. The species parasitize the plants through the larvae vigorous eating patterns, oftentimes leaving the leaves completely destroyed. The moth's effects are quite disastrous, destroying economically important agricultural crops and decreasing yield in some plants completely. Their potential impact on the many different cultivated crops, and subsequently the local agricultural economy, has led to serious efforts to control the pests.
Spodoptera littoralis, also referred to as the African cotton leafworm or Egyptian cotton leafworm or Mediterranean brocade, is a species of moth in the family Noctuidae. S. littoralis is found widely in Africa, Mediterranean Europe and Middle Eastern countries. It is a highly polyphagous organism that is a pest of many cultivated plants and crops. As a result, this species was assigned the label of A2 quarantine pest by the EPPO and was cautioned as a highly invasive species in the United States. The devastating impacts caused by these pests have led to the development of both biological and chemical control methods. This moth is often confused with Spodoptera litura.
Ascoviridae is a family of double strand DNA viruses that infect primarily invertebrates, mainly noctuids and spodoptera species; it contains two genera, Ascovirus, which contains three species, and Toursvirus with a single species Diadromus pulchellus toursvirus.
Armyworms are the caterpillars of some members of two genera:
The fall armyworm is a species in the order Lepidoptera and one of the species of the fall armyworm moths distinguished by their larval life stage. The term "armyworm" can refer to several species, often describing the large-scale invasive behavior of the species' larval stage. It is regarded as a pest and can damage and destroy a wide variety of crops, which causes large economic damage. Its scientific name derives from frugiperda, which is Latin for lost fruit, named because of the species' ability to destroy crops. Because of its propensity for destruction, the fall armyworm's habits and possibilities for crop protection have been studied in depth. It is also a notable case for studying sympatric speciation, as it appears to be diverging into two species currently. Another remarkable trait of the larva is that they consistently practice cannibalism, despite its fitness costs.
Spodoptera is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae erected by Achille Guenée in 1852. Many are known as pest insects. The larvae are sometimes called armyworms. The roughly thirty species are distributed across six continents.
Spodoptera eridania is a moth that is known to be a pest. They are one of the most important defoliators in the tropical and subtropical regions of the western hemisphere that feed heavily on plants while they are young, often resulting in skeleton leaves on their food plants. They are also heavy feeders on tomato in Florida. There is a lot of development in producing pesticides against the S. eridania, specifically a neem-based pesticide that can result in smaller and prolonged development. The wingspan is 33–38 mm. Adults are on wing year-round. The larvae feed on various weeds but prefer Amaranthus species and Phytolacca americana.
Zelus longipes is an assassin bug (Reduviidae) that is a member of the Harpactorinae subfamily. Its distribution ranges include southern North America, Central America, and South America, especially in agroecosystems in Brazil.
Sf9 cells, a clonal isolate of Spodoptera frugiperda Sf21 cells (IPLB-Sf21-AE), are commonly used in insect cell culture for recombinant protein production using baculovirus. They were originally established from ovarian tissue. They can be grown in the absence of serum, and can be cultured attached or in suspension.
Cotesia is a genus of braconid wasps first described by Peter Cameron in 1891. Some species parasitize caterpillars of species considered pests, and are used as biocontrol agents. Cotesia congregata parasitizes the tomato and the tobacco hornworms. C. glomerata and C. rubecula feed on the cabbage white and other white butterfly caterpillars. C. gonopterygis and C. risilis are host-specific and parasitize the common brimstone.
The agriculture industry in Puerto Rico constitutes over $800 million or about 0.69% of the island's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020. Currently the sector accounts for 15% of the food consumed locally. Experts from the University of Puerto Rico argued that these crops could cover approximately 30% of the local demand, particularly that of smaller vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce, etc. and several kinds of tubers that are currently being imported. The existence of a thriving agricultural economy has been prevented due to a shift in priorities towards industrialization, bureaucratization, mismanagement of terrains, lack of alternative methods and a deficient workforce. Its geographical location within the Caribbean exacerbates these issues, making the scarce existing crops propense to the devastating effects of Atlantic hurricanes.
Alphabaculovirus is a genus of viruses in the family Baculoviridae. The natural hosts of species in this family are invertebrates, among them winged insects, and decapods. However, species in this genus have been isolated only from the insect order Lepidoptera. There are 56 species in the genus.
The protein Sf caspase-1 is the insect ortholog of the human effector caspases CASP3 (CPP32) and CASP7 (MCH3) in the species Spodoptera frugiperda. It was identified as the target of the baculoviral caspase inhibitor protein P35, which it cleaves and by which it is inhibited. Like other caspases, Sf caspase-1 is an aspartate-specific cysteine protease that is produced as an inactive proenzyme and becomes activated by autocatalytic cleavage. The Sf caspase-1 proenzyme is cleaved after the amino acid residues Asp-28 and Asp-195, resulting in a smaller 12 kDa fragment and a larger 19 kDa fragment. Just like with human caspases CASP3 or CASP7, the two cleavage fragments form heterodimers, which again form biologically active dimers-of-heterodimers consisting of two smaller and two larger fragments. Some experiments also showed cleavage of Sf caspase-1 at the residue Asp-184, resulting in an 18 kDa instead of 19 kDa fragment, however this result is likely an in vitro artefact. The insect immunophilin FKBP46 is a substrate of Sf caspase-1, which cleaves full length FKBP46 resulting in a ~25 kDa fragment.
Athrycia cinerea is a species of fly in the family Tachinidae. It is a parasitoid of multiple insects with the common name of armyworm, including Mamestra configurata, Mythimna unipuncta, Spodoptera frugiperda, and Dargida diffusa.
Sycanus indagator is a species of assassin bug found in India. It has been used a biological control agent in parts of the United States for its potential as a predator of lepidopteran caterpillars such as Spodoptera frugiperda although in some lab experiments, they preferred the larvae of Galleria mellonella. Their potential for use against Pseudoplusia includens caterpillars in soybean fields has also been tested in the past in the US. The eggs take about 10-17 days to hatch depending on the temperature and the adults took five nymphal moults with a total egg to adult duration of 80 to 100 days at tropical temperatures.
Cotesia icipe is a parasitoid species of wasp of the genus Cotesia. Found in tropical Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, it was first discovered as a parasitoid of the Lepidopterans Spodoptera littoralis and beet armyworm. Therefore it is now being studied as a possible biological control of Lepidopteran pests of amaranth crops in those areas.
Campoletis is a genus of parasitoid wasps belonging to the family Ichneumonidae.
