Spodoptera exempta ( Walker, 1857a )

Mbata, Keith J. & Prins, Jurate De, 2023, Annotated checklist of moths of Zambia (Insecta: Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 5354 (1), pp. 1-503 : 425-426

Spodoptera exempta ( Walker, 1857a) *

COMMON NAME (S): African army worm, Nutgrass army worm, Okalombo, Kommandowurm or Dayfeeding army worm. SYNONYM(S): Prodenia bipars Walker, 1857b ; Prodenia ingloria Walker, 1858d ; Prodenia metriodes Bethune-Baker, 1911 .

IUCN STATUS: Not Evaluated (NE).

DISTRIBUTION: Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia , Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

LOCALITY IN ZAMBIA: Lusaka **, Chilanga ** and Kafue **, in Lusaka Province; Chisamba ** and Mkushi **, in Central Province; Ndola, in Copperbelt Province; Portion of the Southern Africa biodiversity conservation four corners area in Zambia in Northwestern, Western and Southern Provinces of the country .

LARVAL HOSTPLANT(S): Larval foodplants include Gossypium , Zea mays L. , Sorghum , Oryza and Triticum . The African armyworm (AAW), is a very deleterious pest, capable of destroying entire crops in a matter of weeks. The larvae feed on all types of grasses, early stages of cereal crops (e.g., corn, rice, wheat, millet, sorghum), sugar cane, and occasionally on coconut. The armyworm gets its name from its habit of “marching” in large numbers from grasslands into crops. AAWs tend to occur at very high densities during the rainy season, especially after periods of prolonged drought. Because outbreaks are never observed during the dry season, it is called the “off-season” by those that monitor AAWs. The following parasitoids have been recorded for the taxon in South Africa : A Eulophid ( Eulophidae ) Microplitis sp. ; The braconids ( Braconidae ), Apanteles sp. , Chelonus sp. , Meteorus sp. and Microplitis sp. ; and the Ichneumonids ( Ichneumonidae ) Campoletis sp. , Enicospilus sp. , Netelia sp. and Pimpla sp. No parasitoids have been recorded for the taxon in Zambia.

SOURCES: African Moths 2019; De Prins & De Prins 2022; Gardiner 2004; Haggis 1986; Prinsloo & Uys 2015.