Abstract

HERRERO, María I. et al. Contribution to the biological knowledge of Helicoverpa gelotopoeon (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) under laboratory conditions in Argentina. Rev. ind. agric. Tucumán [online]. 2017, vol.94, n.2, pp.13-19. ISSN 1851-3018.

Helicoverpa gelotopoeon (Dyar) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a polyphagous pest that causes damage in the vegetative and reproductive plant growth stages. Although its importance as a soybean pest in the Northwest of Argentina, there are no studies about biological and reproductive aspects, which are important to develop an integrated pest management for this pest. The objective of this study was to examine biological and reproductive parameters of an H. gelotopoeon population collected in soybean (Glycine max L.; Fabales: Fabaceae) crop in Tucumán province. Larvae collected were placed in breeding chambers under controlled conditions (25 ± 2°C, 70-75% RH, 14L:10D photoperiod).The parameters analyzed were: incubation period, duration of larval instars and pupal stage, pupal mass, adult longevity, sex ratio, number of spermatophores, preoviposition, oviposition and postoviposition periods, fecundity and fertility. Results of our study showed that H. gelotopoeon has an incubation period of three days, five larval instars, a larval stage of 14 days, a pupal and adult duration of 11 and 17 days respectively. This species completes a single generation in 45 days and has a fecundity of 330 eggs per female with a fertility of 78%. These results were compared with those obtained for other Helicoverpa species raised under similar conditions. This is the first report of biological and reproductive studies of H. gelotopoeon under controlled conditions.

Keywords : South American bollworm; life cycle; integrated pest management.