Corn Earworm Moth
Helicoverpa zea
Also known as: Corn Earworm · Tomato Fruitworm · Bollworm
Insecta
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- A few weeks
- Size
- Small
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Nocturnal
- Social
- Solitary
- Biome
- Temperate grassland
- Range
- North America
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Camouflage
- Status
- Common
About
The Corn Earworm Moth is a major North American agricultural pest whose caterpillars famously burrow into the tips of corn ears to feed, but its larvae also attack cotton bolls, tomatoes, and dozens of other crops. Adult moths are tan to olive with a dark kidney-shaped marking on each forewing.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA tiny ribbed egg laid on the underside of a host-plant leaf, hatching within days.
- 2.caterpillarA voracious caterpillar feeds and molts through several instars, growing rapidly.
- 3.cocoonA silk cocoon spun in leaf litter or soil while the body remodels into a winged adult.
- 4.mothA winged adult with feathery antennae and scaled wings, most active after dark.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Noctuidae
- Genus
- Helicoverpa
- Species
- Helicoverpa zea