NEW OCCURRENCE OF THE SPODOPTERA LITURA (FABRICIUS) (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) INFESTATION ON COCOA IN INDIA

Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a highly polyphagous insect pest, which inflicts serious economic damage on many agricultural and horticultural crops globally. During our recent surveillance surveys, an unusual defoliation was noticed by a caterpillar pest on cocoa saplings at ICAR - Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Regional Station, Vittal farm, Karnataka, India. Morphological identification and molecular characterization using mitochondrial cytochromec-oxidase (COI) gene confirmed the collected insect samples as S. litura. Hitherto, this species was only known to infest Leucaena leucocephala (CABI), a shade tree of cocoa plantations in Indonesia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first record of infestation by tobacco cut worm on cocoa in India. Consequently, solarization of rooting medium has been suggested for the destruction of the quiescent pupal stage.