Welcome to the Spodoptera larval plant hosts, parasite, and predator databases. Species of Spodoptera are some of the most destructive pests of agricultural crops in the world. There is no comprehensive information on the plant hosts, parasitoids, or predators of the world Spodoptera. These databases provide for the first time comprehensive information on larval host plants, parasitoids, and predators of the world species of Spodoptera. The records in these databases are supported by a bibliographic database.

Larval Host Plant Database

The host plant data was compiled from the literature and specimens in collections. The Review of Applied Entomology, Series A, Agricultural, volumes 1 to 82 (1913-1994) was used to obtain most of the host plant records. A host plant record consists of the host plant, the Spodoptera species feeding on the host, and the country. The state was used for records in the United States. I tried to use the first time the record was mentioned in the literature. Many older records are based on obscure Agriculture reports and those of country and or state Entomologists. These records tried to be duplicated by more recent, easily retrievable literature. Since Spodoptera are easily reared in the laboratory on a variety of hosts and artificial diets, many of the more common pests were used as experimental animals. These records were ignored as the larvae may never have a chance to encounter what they were being fed in the laboratory in the field under natural conditions. I tried to base the larval host plant list on natural occurring records. All names were checked against the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service GRIN taxonomic database (www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/taxgenform.html) which provides the structure and nomenclature for the accessions of the National Germplasm System. Names were also checked in Index Kewensis.

Natural Enemies

Natural enemies refer to both parasitoids and predators of Spodoptera. The primary function of natural enemies from an agricultural perspective is that of biological control of pest species. Thompson (1946 a, b, c) compiled a list of the parasitoids of insect pests. Thompson and Simmonds (1964) compiled a list of insect predators. The records for these lists were compiled from the papers in the Review of Applied Entomology, Series A, Agricultural, volumes 1-25 (1913-1937). I continued compiling Spodoptera records from volumes 26-82 (1938-1994). A parasitoid or predator record consists of the natural enemy, the Spodoptera species preyed upon, and the country. The state was used for records in the United States. I tried to use the first time the record was mentioned in the literature to keep redundancy to a minimum. Some records will have more than one citation if the older record is from an obscure publication, such as yearly reports from country and or state agricultural departments and entomologists. Since several species of Spodoptera are easily reared, they are used in laboratory experiments. I did not include records of parasitoids or predators being fed Spodoptera larvae when conducting compatibility studies, mass rearings in conjunction with biological control releases, or experiments on host preference.

The information presented should be used with caution and original papers should be consulted because their factual value should be evaluated. As mentioned in Thompson and Simmonds (1964), some of these records are wrong, however excluding such references is not justified, since this is a compilation of published records.

Parasitoids

The nomenclature of the parasitoids was checked against modern catalogues and corrected from the original papers. Catalogues used were Krombein et al. (1979) for Hymenoptera and Stone et al. (1965), Guimarães (1971), Delfinado and Hardy (1977), Crosskey (1980), and Evenhuis (1989) for Diptera. Nomenclature of Spodoptera was also corrected from the original papers. For example, S. litura from Africa should be referred to as S. littoralis. Many parasitoids have been released from their country of origin for use in biological control in other countries. A record includes the Spodoptera host species, the parasitoid, and the country and/or state in the United States that the parasitoid was collected. The records are for specimens that were reared from field collected eggs, larvae, or pupae.

Predators

The nomenclature of the predators and Spodoptera species was updated from modern catalogues and corrected from the original papers. Catalogues used were Lorenz (1998 a, b) for the Carabidae (Coleoptera) and Henry and Froeschner (1988) and Aukema and Rieger (1996 a, b) for the Heteroptera. A record includes the Spodoptera host species, the predator, and the country and/or state that the predator was collected. The records are for specimens that were observed feeding on either eggs, larvae, or pupae and were field collected.

Aukema, B. And C. Rieger. 1996 a. Catalogue of the Heteroptera of the Palaearctic Region. Volume 1. Netherlands Entomological Society, Amersterdam, The Netherlands, 222 pp.

__________. 1996 b. Catalogue of the Heteroptera of the Palaearctic Region. Volume 2. Netherlands Entomological Society, Amersterdam, The Netherlands, 361 pp.

Crosskey, R. W. (ed.). 1980. Catalogue of the Diptera of the Aftrotropical region. British Museum (Natural History), London, England. 1437 pp.

Delfinado, M. D. And D. H. Hardy. 1977. A Catalog of the Diptera of the Oriental region. Volume III. Suborder Cyclorrhapha (excluding Division Aschiza). The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii. 854 pp.

Evenhuis, N. L. (ed.). 1989. Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian regions. Bishop Museum Special Publication 86, Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, Hawaii and E. J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands. 1155 pp.

Guimarães, J. H. 1971. A Catalogue of the Diptera of the americas south of the United States. Family Tachinidae (Larvaeroridae). Museu de Zoologia, Universidada de São Paulo 104: 1-333.

Henry, T. J. and R. C. Froeschner. 1988. Catalog of the Heteroptera, or true bugs, of Canada and the continental United States. E. J. Brill, New York, New York, 958 pp.

Krombein, K.V., P.D. Hurd, Jr., D.R. Smith, and B.D. Burks. 1979. Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico. Vol. 1. Symphyta and Apocrita (Parasitica).Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 2735 pp.

Lorenz, W. 1998a. Nomina Carabidarum. A directory of the scientific names of ground beetles. Wolfgang Lorenz, Tutzing, Germany. 937 pp.

__________. 1998b. Systematic list of extant ground beetles of the world. Wolfgang Lorenz, Tutzing, Germany. 502 pp.

Stone, A., C. W. Sabrosky, W. W. Wirth, R. H. Foote, and J. R. Coulson. 1965. A catalog of the Diptera of America North of Mexico. Agricultural Research Service, U.S.D.A., Washington, D.C. 1696 pp.

Thompson, W. R. 1946 a. A catalogue of the parasites and predators of insect pests, Section 1, Parasite host catalogue, Part 7, Parasites of the Lepidoptera (G-M). Imperial Agricultural Bureaux, Institute of Entomology, Parasite Service, Belleville, Ontario, Canada, pp. 259-385.

__________. 1946 b. A catalogue of the parasites and predators of insect pests, Section 1, Parasite host catalogue, Part 8, Parasites of the Lepidoptera (N-P). Imperial Agricultural Bureaux, Institute of Entomology, Parasite Service, Belleville, Ontario, Canada, pp. 386-523.

__________. 1946 c. A catalogue of the parasites and predators of insect pests, Section 1, Parasite host catalogue, Part 9, Parasites of the Lepidoptera (Q-Z). Imperial Agricultural Bureaux, Institute of Entomology, Parasite Service, Belleville, Ontario, Canada, pp. 386-523.

Thompson, W. R. And F. J. Simmonds. 1964. A catalogue of the parasites and predators of insect pests, Section 3, Predator host catalogue. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control, Buck, England. 204 pp.