Army worm
Encyclopedia
The Fall Armyworm is part of the order of Lepidoptera
and is the caterpillar
life stage of a moth
. It is regarded as a pest and can wreak havoc with crops if left to multiply. Its name is derived from its feeding habits. They will eat everything in an area and once the food supply is exhausted the entire "army" will move to the next available food source.
es and small grain crops. An infestation is hard to detect as the caterpillars migrate to new feeding areas in the cool of the night. When the caterpillars near maturity, they can lay waste to an entire crop in a few days.
, spreading into the north the following month and into the Jubba valley
of Somalia
in early May. Similar outbreaks affected the Rift Valley Province of Kenya
and parts of Uganda
at the same time. While Ethiopian officials had stocks of pesticides to treat 350,000 hectares of affected land, neither Kenyan or Ugandan officials had sufficient supplies to combat the insect and there was no central government to respond to the emergency in Somalia.
STAR radio
in Liberia
reported in January 2009 that Zota District
in Bong County
had been invaded by army worms, which had consumed vegetation and polluted creeks and running water. They are moving to Guinea and Sierra Leone. On 28 January 2009, the President of Liberia declared a state of emergency to deal with the infestation of army worms in the country. As of 2 February 2009, the plague is thought to be of an entirely unknown species, not the army worm.
December 2009 saw an infestation of ten regions of Tanzania. The infested regions include three of the five main grain-producing regions. The other two major grain-producing regions are at risk of infestation. Tanzania has trained farmers in fighting armyworms since 2007, and responded to forecasts of the late 2009 infestation by sending out hundreds of liters of pesticides to rural farmers. The first infestation was reported on 22 December and quickly spread to surrounding regions. The previous growing season saw Tanzania produce 10.872 millions tons of grain; after 10.337 million tons of domestic consumption the remaining 0.534 million tons were exported. As of 31 December, almost 1400 acres (5.7 km²) of grain had been destroyed by armyworms..
and Sf21
cell lines) are commonly used in biomedical research for the purpose of recombinant protein expression using insect-specific viruses called baculovirus
es. Recently a new transient transfection system (leading to a stable cell line) has been developed. This allows quick expression within 3 days opposed to several weeks with the Baculovirus expression system. This binary protein expression system has many desirable characteristics and is widely used.
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
and is the caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
life stage of a moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
. It is regarded as a pest and can wreak havoc with crops if left to multiply. Its name is derived from its feeding habits. They will eat everything in an area and once the food supply is exhausted the entire "army" will move to the next available food source.
Description
The larvae are a dull yellow to gray with stripes running down the length of the body. The mature caterpillar is approximately 1.5 to 2 inches (50.8 mm) in length.Feeding habits
The armyworm's diet consists mainly of grassGrass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
es and small grain crops. An infestation is hard to detect as the caterpillars migrate to new feeding areas in the cool of the night. When the caterpillars near maturity, they can lay waste to an entire crop in a few days.
Infestations
In mid-April 1999, an army worm infestation started in southern EthiopiaEthiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, spreading into the north the following month and into the Jubba valley
Jubba Valley
The Juba Valley is a valley in Northeast Africa.It follows the line of the Juba River north from the Indian Ocean to the Somalia/Ethiopia border, and then splits, one branch following the Dawa River west along the Ethiopia/Kenya border then north into Ethiopia, and the other branch follows the...
of Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
in early May. Similar outbreaks affected the Rift Valley Province of Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and parts of Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
at the same time. While Ethiopian officials had stocks of pesticides to treat 350,000 hectares of affected land, neither Kenyan or Ugandan officials had sufficient supplies to combat the insect and there was no central government to respond to the emergency in Somalia.
STAR radio
STAR radio
STAR radio is a FM radio station in the West African nation of Liberia. Founded in 1997, it is independent of the country’s government. Headquartered in Monrovia, it broadcasts at the 104 FM frequency and via shortwave radio.-History:...
in Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
reported in January 2009 that Zota District
Zota District
Zota District is one of eight districts located in Bong County, Liberia....
in Bong County
Bong County
Bong is a county in the north-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has twelve districts. Gbarnga serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring...
had been invaded by army worms, which had consumed vegetation and polluted creeks and running water. They are moving to Guinea and Sierra Leone. On 28 January 2009, the President of Liberia declared a state of emergency to deal with the infestation of army worms in the country. As of 2 February 2009, the plague is thought to be of an entirely unknown species, not the army worm.
December 2009 saw an infestation of ten regions of Tanzania. The infested regions include three of the five main grain-producing regions. The other two major grain-producing regions are at risk of infestation. Tanzania has trained farmers in fighting armyworms since 2007, and responded to forecasts of the late 2009 infestation by sending out hundreds of liters of pesticides to rural farmers. The first infestation was reported on 22 December and quickly spread to surrounding regions. The previous growing season saw Tanzania produce 10.872 millions tons of grain; after 10.337 million tons of domestic consumption the remaining 0.534 million tons were exported. As of 31 December, almost 1400 acres (5.7 km²) of grain had been destroyed by armyworms..
Research use
Spodoptera frugiperda cells (Sf9Sf21
Sf21 is a continuous cell line developed from ovaries of the Fall Army worm, Spodoptera frugiperda, a moth species that is an agricultural pest on corn and other grass species. It was originally developed in the United States at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center...
and Sf21
Sf21
Sf21 is a continuous cell line developed from ovaries of the Fall Army worm, Spodoptera frugiperda, a moth species that is an agricultural pest on corn and other grass species. It was originally developed in the United States at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center...
cell lines) are commonly used in biomedical research for the purpose of recombinant protein expression using insect-specific viruses called baculovirus
Baculovirus
The baculoviruses are a family of large rod-shaped viruses that can be divided to two genera: nucleopolyhedroviruses and granuloviruses . While GVs contain only one nucleocapsid per envelope, NPVs contain either single or multiple nucleocapsids per envelope. The enveloped virions are further...
es. Recently a new transient transfection system (leading to a stable cell line) has been developed. This allows quick expression within 3 days opposed to several weeks with the Baculovirus expression system. This binary protein expression system has many desirable characteristics and is widely used.
External links
- fall armyworm on the UFUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
/ IFASInstitute of Food and Agricultural SciencesThe University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
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