Yellow-Striped Armyworm Moth (Spodoptera ornithogalli) lives in open fields across North America. It feeds on grass and leaves.
Fascinating facts about the Yellow-Striped Armyworm Moth
- The yellow-striped armyworm stretches its wings to a span of 32-44 millimetres. Its fore-wings wear a brown canvas splashed with tan markings and a blurry white stripe that darts from the tip, while the hind-wings flash white edged with a thin brown line. When the caterpillar hatches, it is cloaked in black with thin yellow side-stripes.
- Spodoptera ornithogalli blankets North America, recorded in Canadian provinces Ontario and Quebec and in many U.S. states including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Such a massive range shows the moth's ability to thrive in diverse climates, from the humid Gulf Coast to the cooler northern forests, making it a pest that can appear on farms across the continent without warning.
- The larvae of Spodoptera ornithogalli feeding on a laundry list of crops: alfalfa, asparagus, beans, beets, cabbage, clover, corn, cotton, cucumber, hops, grapes, grass, jimsonweed, morning glory, onion, peas, peach, peanut, potato, sorghum, soybean, sunflower, sweet potato, Swiss chard, tobacco, tomato, turnip, wheat, watermelon, wild onion, plus ornamentals like chrysanthemum and roses, and pioneer weeds such as Amaranthus retroflexus and Chenopodium album.
- Adult yellow-striped armyworms take to the air from April all the way through November, depending on where they live.
- In 2020, European ports repeatedly intercepted this moth, especially on asparagus shipments from the Americas. Though the moth has not yet established a foothold in Europe, Denmark and Japan have only recorded phytosanitation interceptions.
Sources
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At a glance
RangeNorth America
HabitatOpen fields
DietGrass and leaves
About the Yellow-Striped Armyworm Moth
As the sun dips below the horizon, the Yellow-Striped Armyworm Moth stirs, its delicate wings unfolding like intricate lace as it takes to the evening air. With a gentle, fluttering beat, it dances across the landscape, its yellow-striped body glowing like a tiny lantern in the fading light, as it navigates the verdant expanse in search of the perfect host plant to lay its eggs. In this fleeting, crepuscular world, the Yellow-Striped Armyworm Moth is a master of subtle beauty, its understated elegance belied by the voracious appetites of its caterpillars, which will soon descend upon the landscape like a tiny, hungry army.
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