Insect Science (2011) 18, 629-634

Jia Chen, Yu-Chun Wu, Xin Chen, Ya-Jie Ji and De-Xing Zhang (2011)
A simple and reliable method for discriminating between Helicoverpa armigera and Helicoverpa assulta (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
Insect Science 18 (6), 629-634
Abstract: The cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera and the oriental tobacco budworm H. assulta are sibling species, both being important agricultural pests. Morphologically, the two insects are almost indistinguishable at the egg, larval and pupal stages. One of the big challenges in the study of these insects, in particular in integrated pest management, is a timely and dependable identification of these insects at their early stages of development. Here, we report a H. armigera-specific nuclear DNA marker, and demonstrate that it can be employed to reliably discriminate between H. armigera and H. assulta by simple polymerase chain reaction amplification experiment.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
identification/taxonomy
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Helicoverpa armigera
	Helicoverpa assulta