Attacks of Spodoptera littoralis on aquarium plants
In Italy, Spodoptera littoralis (EPPO A2 quarantine pest) is essentially present in Campania, Liguria and Sicilia. In other parts (Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna, Toscana, Lazio and Puglia), it is an occasional pest which mainly occurs under protected conditions. Recently, in Portici (Napoli, Campania) outbreaks have been observed in a glasshouse producing aquarium plants. The following plant species were damaged: Microsorium pteropus (Polypodiaceae), Anubias barteri (Araceae), A. hastaefolia, Echinodorus osiris (Alismataceae), Alternanthera reineckii (Amaranthaceae), Nomaphila stricta (Acanthaceae) and Gymnocoronis spilanthoides (Asteraceae). Nomaphila stricta was the preferred host plant. Feeding damage was not strikingly visible, but considerably reduced the marketing value of the attacked plants. Although the extreme polyphagy of this insect is well known, this is the first report of S. littoralis on aquarium plants.
Sources
Sannino, L.; Espinosa, B. (1999) Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera Noctuidae) harmful to aquarium plants.
Informatore fitopatologico, no. 6, 55-59.