Spodoptera cosmioides

Spodoptera cosmioides
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Noctuoidea
Family:	Noctuidae
Genus:	Spodoptera
Species:	S. cosmioides
Binomial name
Spodoptera cosmioides Walker, 1858

Spodoptera cosmioides is an armyworm moth of the family Noctuidae found in Central America and South America (from Panama and Trinidad south to Argentina).

Taxonomy

Walker (1858)[1] originally described cosmioides, placing it in the genus Prodenia.

Basionym: Prodenia cosmioides Walker, 1858.

Pogue (2002)[2] revived S. cosmioides (Walker, 1858), as a valid species (though misspelled as S. cosmiodes), from synonymy with S. latifascia (Walker, 1856).

Description

The wingspan is about 38 to 42 mm (1.5 to 1.7 in).

Ecology

No host plants are listed for S. cosmioides on the HOSTS database of the Natural History Museum, London.[3] However, S. cosmioides and closely related congeners feed on many herbaceous plants and are regarded as pests thereof (e.g. da Silva et al., 2017[4]).

Geography

Type Locality: Pará, Brazil.

Pogue (2002) saw voucher material from the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad, Venezuela.

Similar species

• Spodoptera latifascia (Walker, 1856)
• Spodoptera descoinsi Lalanne-Cassou & Silvain, 1994

(see Pogue, 2002) for differences

References

1. Walker, Francis (1856). List Spec. Lepid. Insects Colln Br. Mus. 15: 1678.
2. Pogue, Michael (2002). "A world revision of the genus Spodoptera Guenée: (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). no. 43". American Entomological Society. OCLC 49642771.
3. "HOSTS - the Hostplants and Caterpillars Database at the Natural History Museum".
4. ds Silva, Débora (2017). "Biology of Spodoptera eridania and Spodoptera cosmioides (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on Different Host Plants". Florida Entomologist. 100 (4): 752–760. doi:10.1653/024.100.0423. S2CID 55240402.