Heliothis dispersal and migration

Abstract

A few of the many species of Heliothis (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) are important crop pests in the Old and New Worlds. Among these, H.armigera, H.zea, H.virescens and H.punctigera are the best known. The former is a particularly destructive species of a wide range of crops cultivated in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, including several staple foods and important peasant farmer cash crops. As new cultivation techniques are introduced and more extensive areas of crops are grown, often on larger irrigation and Government development schemes, it appears that this pest is becoming increasingly important. There is a strong suspicion that H.armigera populations move locally between crops grown in sequence or intercropped and that probably more extensive migratory movement occurs, as has been demonstrated in the closely related species H. zea in North America. This has considerable implications for effective control of the pest on the crops of some of the least priviledged farmers of the Developing World and in some of the poorest countries. There are recorded instances of resistance to pesticides in the species. Clearly large scale movements could have an effect on dissemination of such resistance and affect the level of control exerted by local parasite and predator populations and hence the necessity for rapid control action to combat rapid population increases of the pest on both staple food and cash crops. The ability to forecast or warn of such incidents would assist in effective timing of control operations and maximise efficiency of any insecticidal input required. This bibliography consolidates much of the scattered literature on the migratory behaviour of Heliothis spp. and will help to identify gaps in the existing knowledge of this aspect of the ecology of the genus. It will hopefully assist in focussing attention on the necessity for work on H.armigera, which is of such great importance in Developing Countries. Work on migratory movement could lead to effective action both regionally and internationally to reduce possibilities of migration of damaging numbers of moths. It will certainly assist in increasing knowledge on the bionomics of one of the most damaging agricultural pest species in the Old World and be of benefit to some of the least advantaged farmers of the tropics