Tobacco Caterpillar Or Armyworm

 

 

 

 

 

 

The adult moths are light brown with mottled forewings.Eggs are laid in clusters of several hundreds, usually on the upper surface of leaves.The caterpillars are light green. As they grow, they become dark green to brown on their backs, lighter underneath, and have prominent black spots (Fig.) near the mouth region.Newly hatched caterpillars can be detected by the 'scratch' marks they make on the leaf surface (Fig.).The older ones are night-feeders and are usually found in the soil around the base of plants during the day.

Crop damage

The larvae feed on the foliage particularly on young leaves and buds and cause heavy damage to the foliage (Fig.)They chew large areas of the leaf, and can, at high population densities, strip a crop of its leaves (Fig.).The caterpillars bore into the pods when groundnut is grown on light soils (Fig.).