Heliothis virescens

St-Kitts, Philipps Level, 9-XII-83

Heliothis virescens (Fabricius, 1777)

Noctuidae Heliothinae

Synonyms

Heliothis rhexiae (J.E. Smith)
Heliothis prasina (Walker)
Heliothis pyraloides (Walker)
Heliothis viridescens (Walker)
Heliothis spectanda Strecker

Detail of the forewings

Heliothis subflexa : The outer line ends at the apical angle.
Heliothis virescens: The outer line ends before reaching the apical angle.

Biology and distribution

Polyphagous larva, found in the Antilles on tobacco and Cajanus cajan (Fabaceae).

Uncommon in Guadeloupe and Martinique (Pinchon, 1969).
Les Saintes, St-Martin, St-Bartholomew.

St-Kitts, Montserrat, Dominica.
Throughout the Greater Antilles.

From Canada (tobacco budworm) to Argentina.

Legend

Pheromone

The sex pheromone produced by the female moths has been described (Tumlinson et al, 1975, J. chem. Ecol., 1: 203-214; Teal et al., 1986, J. chem. Ecol., 12: 107-126.). It consists of:

(Z)-11-hexadecenal: 60%
(Z)-9-hexadecenal: 1%
(Z)-7-hexadecenal: 0.6%
Hexadecanal: 7.3%
(Z)-9-tetradecenal: 18.1%
Tetradecanal: 13%

Source: Pherolist, a database on sex pheromones of Lepidoptera and related attractants.

Male genitalia (JPG 34 Kb).

Similar species

Heliothis subflexa

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