Species Helicoverpa punctigera (Wallengren, 1860)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Heliothis punctigera Wallengren, 1860.

  Type data:

   Holotype NHRM ♂, Sydney, NSW [as 'Ad sidney [sic!] Novae Hollandiae'].
• Chloridea marmada Swinhoe, C. 1918. New species of indo-malayan Heterocera and descriptions of genitalia, with reference to the geographical distribution of species resembling each other. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9 2: 65-95, pls vii-xi [65].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♂, Roebourne, [WA].

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 [192]

Distribution

States

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

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)

Other Regions

Cocos (Keeling) Islands terrestrial & freshwater, Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater, Norfolk Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

Larvae are extremely polyphagous (see Matthews 1999: 130-136), 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. armigera is considered the most destructive crop pest in Australia (Matthews 1999: 106).

History of changes