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Pests and Diseases

Corn Earworm

Insect and Mite Pests of Crops

A moth (Helicoverpa zea), closely related to the Old World's cotton bollworm, whose caterpillars feed on maize ears, cotton bolls, tomato fruit and dozens of other crops across the Americas, also known as the tomato fruitworm or cotton bollworm depending on the crop attacked. It is among the most economically damaging insect pests in North American agriculture, causing losses estimated in the billions of dollars annually across its many host crops, and it has developed resistance to several classes of insecticide and to some Bt maize and cotton traits.

Facts
Classification
Agent Kind
Insect or Mite 1
Connections

Associated With

Maize, Crops

The corn earworm is one of the most damaging insect pests of maize ears in the Americas.

Sources
1. Corn Earworm (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Opening definition paragraph
    Helicoverpa zea, commonly known as the corn earworm, is a species in the family Noctuidae. The larva of the moth Helicoverpa zea is a major agricultural pest. Since it is polyphagous during the larval stage, the species has been given many different common names, including the cotton bollworm and the tomato fruitworm. It also consumes a wide variety of other crops.
  • lead description
    A moth (Helicoverpa zea), closely related to the Old World's cotton bollworm, whose caterpillars feed on maize ears, cotton bolls, tomato fruit and dozens of other crops across the Americas, also known as the tomato fruitworm or cotton bollworm depending on the crop attacked.
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