''Spodoptera praefica'', the western yellow-striped armyworm, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other f ...

found from

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, east to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, and north to

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. it is absent from the EPPO (

European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization The European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) is an intergovernmental organisation responsible for European cooperation in plant protection in the European and Mediterranean region. Founded on April 18th, 1951 and based in Pa ...

) area, but is considered a high risk for invasion there. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is . It is similar in appearance to ''

Spodoptera ornithogalli ''Spodoptera ornithogalli'' (yellow-striped armyworm, cotton cutworm) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. When first discovered this particular species was thought to be the American representative of ''Spodoptera littoralis, S. littoralis'' as t ...

'', but ''S. praefica'''s fore-wings are paler and lack the blurry white stripe. The hind-wings of ''S. praefica'' are white or gray and have a small brown dot on the ventral side. Adults are on wing from March to April and from August to September. The larvae are black with yellow stripes and an inverted "y" marking on the head. They feed on the leaves of various herbaceous plants including agricultural crops such as alfalfa, potato, rice, sugar beet, and sweet potato.

References

External links

Bug GuidePacific Northwest Moths: ''Spodoptera praefica''
Spodoptera Moths of North America Moths described in 1875 {{Hadeninae-stub