Monitoring for exotic Spodoptera species (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Florida

Abstract

Trapping studies were conducted in 2 Florida locations to determine if 3 Old World Spodoptera Guenée species were present. Commercially-produced lures for S. exempta (Walker), S. littoralis (Boisduval), and S. litura (F.), plus a S. litura lure made by the USDA-APHIS-CPHST laboratory at Otis ANGB in Massachusetts, were used with plastic Unitraps and placed near 2 orchid nurseries in Lake and Miami-Dade counties. One S. litura male moth was identified from collections made in Apr 2007; no other exotic species were found in either location. However, thousands of resident species were collected, including S. albula (Walker) (= S. sunia Guenée), S. dolichos (F.), S. eridania (Stoll), S. exigua (Hübner), (J. E. Smith), and S. pulchella (Herrich-Schäffer). This study exposed the amount of labor and level of technical knowledge needed for scientists involved in finding exotic Spodoptera species.