Swarming Caterpillar

Article
Summary- Also known as lawn armyworm, this pest is known in the scientific world as
Spodoptera mauritia. It is the larva of a moth from the family of Noctuidae. Rice is the primary
host of the swarming caterpillar. This pest also breeds on other hosts like different kinds of
grasses and occasionally on maize, oat and sorghum. In India, it is found in all the rice-growing
areas especially along the west coast and delta in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In eastern India, it
has become a regular pest in western Orissa and has also been recorded in coastal districts of
the state. This pest is also recorded in Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhatisgarh during the kharif rice
crop in 2008 and 2009.

This is a seedling pest and rarely infests a crop older than 6-7 weeks. Rice plants 2-20 days old
where the fields are rarely drained suffer most attacks. A field attacked by the swarming
caterpillar usually looks like it had been grazed by animals.

Symptoms- As said before, the fields attacked by the swarming caterpillars look as if it was
grazed over by animals. The pest appears in the field sporadically in large swarms and eats
away the crops in the entire field and moves to nearby fields. If the crop becomes infested in its
early stages, the crop needs to be replanted. A transplanted crop is not generally affected.

Identification-
● Egg: eggs are spherical and creamy in colour, and are laid in a group covered with grey
hairs.
● Larva: caterpillars are light green with yellowish white lateral and dorsal stripes in the
early stages and later become dark brown or greyish green in colour with a crescent
(semi-circular) shaped black spot on the side of each segment

● Pupa: pupates in an earthen cocoon in soil. The pupa is dark brown and measures 16-
17 mm long.
● Adult: moth is medium-sized, strongly built, and dark brown with a clearly visible
triangular black spot on the forewings. Hind wings are brownish white with thin black
margins. The forewings of the female moth are greyish brown with wavy lines and a dark
spot sub centrally. Male moth has immense tufts of hairs on the forelegs. The wings of
the male moth are more greyish. The hind wings are brownish-white with thin black
margins.

Management-
● Drain the water and Spray chlorpyriphos 20 EC 80ml + 20 lit of water for 8 cents
 ● Allow ducks into the field to feed on the larvae
● Flood the nursery to expose the hiding larvae to the surface for birds to pick them up.
● Kerosenate water during irrigation to suffocate and kill the larvae.
● Drain water from the nursery and spray chlorpyriphos 20 EC 80 ml during late evening

Pictures

Variations of the swarming caterpillar at its different stages of growth.

Paddy crop at early stage damaged by S. mauritia appears as grazed by cattle

Swarming caterpillar feeding on paddy plants

Link for all the pictures above: Prelims.pmd (icar.gov.in)

Videos
Pests of Rice (Borers & Leaf feeders) in Tamil
Details on swarming caterpillars

நெல் பயிர்களுக்கு 🌾 சேதத்தை ஏற்படுத்தும் வெட்டு

ப்புழுக்கள்/swarming caterpillar @S_N_Rajan
Tamil video on details of swarming caterpillar

Spodoptera mauritia feeding on paddy

On-farm video of the damage caused by the swarming caterpillar.

Websites
TNAU Agritech Portal::Swarming caterpillar: Spodoptera mauritia

Prelims.pmd (icar.gov.in)