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      Seasonal Dynamics of the Alien Invasive Insect Pest Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Manica Province, Central Mozambique

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          In this article “Seasonal dynamics of the alien insect pest Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Manica province, central Mozambique”, the authors Albasini Caniço, António Mexia and Luisa Santos, discuss the population fluctuation of a newly introduced and important insect pest. This insect pest attacks maize, which is a staple food in the country. Because the pest is highly voracious, its attack on maize reduces the grain yield and threatens food security of around half of the Mozambican population. The authors compared the situation of the pest in the dry and rainy seasons. The study shows that during the dry season, the population of this pest increases and many plants are attacked and eventually killed. With this knowledge, farmers and researchers can efficiently plan about when the control measures should be stepped up to deal with this insect pest.

          Abstract

          The alien invasive insect pest Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), commonly referred to as fall armyworm (FAW), is causing significant losses to maize production in Africa since its detection in 2016. Despite being the primary insect pest of the main food crop in the country, researchers have concentrated their efforts on methods of control, and there are no published studies on its seasonality which could assist farmers in delivering effective methods of control in periods of heavy infestations. The primary goal of this study was to assess the seasonal dynamics of FAW in maize fields. We conducted a field survey from May to August 2019 (dry season of the 2018/2019 cropping season) and in December 2019 and January 2020 (rainy season of the 2019/2020 cropping season) in 622 maize fields. In each field, 20 plants were selected in a “W” pattern and checked for the presence of FAW egg masses and/or larvae. Plants were also assessed for damage. Preliminary results show increased infestation, damages, and population density of FAW in the dry season. Our results suggest that early planting of maize in the primary cropping season may significantly reduce the infestation and damage by FAW when compared to the dry season.

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          Most cited references34

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          First Report of Outbreaks of the Fall Armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (J E Smith) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), a New Alien Invasive Pest in West and Central Africa

          The fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda is a prime noctuid pest of maize on the American continents where it has remained confined despite occasional interceptions by European quarantine services in recent years. The pest has currently become a new invasive species in West and Central Africa where outbreaks were recorded for the first time in early 2016. The presence of at least two distinct haplotypes within samples collected on maize in Nigeria and São Tomé suggests multiple introductions into the African continent. Implications of this new threat to the maize crop in tropical Africa are briefly discussed.
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            Host Plants of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the Americas

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              Modeling seasonal migration of fall armyworm moths.

              Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), is a highly mobile insect pest of a wide range of host crops. However, this pest of tropical origin cannot survive extended periods of freezing temperature but must migrate northward each spring if it is to re-infest cropping areas in temperate regions. The northward limit of the winter-breeding region for North America extends to southern regions of Texas and Florida, but infestations are regularly reported as far north as Québec and Ontario provinces in Canada by the end of summer. Recent genetic analyses have characterized migratory pathways from these winter-breeding regions, but knowledge is lacking on the atmosphere's role in influencing the timing, distance, and direction of migratory flights. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model was used to simulate migratory flight of fall armyworm moths from distinct winter-breeding source areas. Model simulations identified regions of dominant immigration from the Florida and Texas source areas and overlapping immigrant populations in the Alabama-Georgia and Pennsylvania-Mid-Atlantic regions. This simulated migratory pattern corroborates a previous migratory map based on the distribution of fall armyworm haplotype profiles. We found a significant regression between the simulated first week of moth immigration and first week of moth capture (for locations which captured ≥ 10 moths), which on average indicated that the model simulated first immigration 2 weeks before first captures in pheromone traps. The results contribute to knowledge of fall armyworm population ecology on a continental scale and will aid in the prediction and interpretation of inter-annual variability of insect migration patterns including those in response to climatic change and adoption rates of transgenic cultivars.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Insects
                Insects
                insects
                Insects
                MDPI
                2075-4450
                07 August 2020
                August 2020
                : 11
                : 8
                : 512
                Affiliations
                [1 ]LEAF-Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food- School of Agriculture—University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal; amexia@ 123456isa.ulisboa.pt
                [2 ]Division of Agriculture—The Polytechnic of Manica (ISPM), District of Vanduzi, Matsinho 2200, Mozambique
                [3 ]Department of Plant Protection—Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry Engineering, Eduardo, Mondlane University, P.O. Box 257, Maputo 1102, Mozambique; luisasantos47@ 123456gmail.com
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: albasini.canico@ 123456gmail.com ; Tel.: +351-21-365-3128 (ext. 3428)
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2930-4764
                Article
                insects-11-00512
                10.3390/insects11080512
                7469179
                32784750
                73975ecc-bae7-4215-a164-5ada01d09427
                © 2020 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 26 June 2020
                : 04 August 2020
                Categories
                Article

                fall armyworm,cropping season,population density,infestation,smallholder farmers

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