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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #314296
Title: Migratory patterns of the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) in the western hemisphere

Author
item HAY-ROE, MIRIAN - Former ARS Employee
item Nagoshi, Rodney
item Meagher, Robert - Rob

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/18/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Fall armyworm (FAW) is a serious pest of sweet corn in south Florida and a pest of other vegetable, row, and forage crops in the southeastern, mid-Atlantic, and central U.S. It is a migratory pest, moving north each season from overwintering areas in southern Texas and southern Florida. For the last several years we have been able to describe the migratory pathways of this insect from their overwintering locations to the rest of the U.S. using genetic haplotype markers. ‘Texas’ moths migrate north and then east and eventually arrive in southern Canada (Ontario) and in the northeast. ‘Florida’ moths move north and eastward along the Atlantic coast to the northeast. The Appalachian Mountains appear to provide a physical barrier between the two populations. Two areas in the southeast (western Georgia and eastern Alabama) and northeast (Long Island, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and Maryland, and the Delmarva Peninsula) contain mixtures of both ‘Texas’ and ‘Florida’ moths. Up to this point, all moths collected in South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil) and in the Caribbean islands near South America (Trinidad & Tobago, St. Vincent) are the ‘Texas’ type. Moths collected in Puerto Rico, St. Kitts, and Dominica are primarily the ‘Florida’ type.