Species Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner, 1808)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Noctua armigera Hübner, J. 1808. Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge. Noctuae II. Genuinae B. &c. Augsburg : [by the author] Vol. 4 24 pp. [Date published Jul. 1803 - 1808] [pl. 79 fig. 370].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown (Matthews (1999: 184) states the type material to be probably lost), [unknown].
• Noctua barbara Fabricius, 1794.

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown (Matthews (1999: 184) considers the type material to have originated from Africa and to be lost), [Africa?].
• Heliothis conferta Walker, F. 1857. Noctuidae. List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum 11: 492-764 [690].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BMNH ♀, New Zealand.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Matthews, M. 1999. Heliothinae moths of Australia. A guide to pest bollworms and related noctuid groups. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera 7: i-x, 1-320, CD-ROM [184].
• Heliothis pulverosa Walker, F. 1857. Noctuidae. List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum 11: 492-764 [688].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♂, Cape [Colony, South Africa].
• Heliothis uniformis Wallengren, H.D.J. 1860. Lepidopterologische Mittheilungen. Wiener Entomologische Monatschrift 4: 33-46, 161-176 [171].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown ♀, South Africa [as Caffraria].
• Helicoverpa commoni Hardwick, D.F. 1965. The corn earworm complex. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 40: 1-247, 4 pls, 146 figs [101].

  Type data:

   Holotype BPBM ♂, Canton Island, [Republic of Kiribati].
• Heliothis rama Bhattacherjee, N.S. & Gupta, S.L. 1972. A new species of Heliothis Ochsenheimer (Noctuidae, Lepidoptera) infesting cotton and tur (Cajanus indicus) in India with observations on the three other common species of the genus. Journal of Natural History 6: 147-151 [147].

  Type data:

   Holotype NPC ♀, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
• Heliothis guidellii Constantini, A. 1922. Lepidoptera pro fauna Italica nova, addits specierum formarumque novarum descriptionibus. I. Neue Beiträge zur Systematischen Insektenkunde 2: 97-101 [99].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown ♂ (according to Matthews (1999: 186) the type material was probably destroyed), Modena, Italy [as 'agro Mutinensi'].

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Matthews, M. 1999. Heliothinae moths of Australia. A guide to pest bollworms and related noctuid groups. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera 7: i-x, 1-320, CD-ROM [183-184]

 

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Distributed throughout the Old World, from the Canary Islands in the west, to Pacific islands in the east.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Ecological Descriptors

Larvae are extremely polyphagous (see Matthews 1999: 112–115), feeding predominantly on flowers and fruits, but also on leaves and stems. This species is one of the world's worst crop pests and, together with H. punctigera, is considered the most destructive crop pest in Australia (Matthews 1999: 106).

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
		08-Mar-2012	MODIFIED