Subfamily HELIOTHINAE - Budworm
Family Noctuidae
This page contains pictures and information about Budworm, moths and caterpillars in subfamily HELIOTHINAE that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Budworm Caterpillar
- Moths in this subfamily are medium in size, usually with stout body clothed with long hairs.
- Caterpillars usually feed on flower bud, fruits and foliage. They pupate in a cell in soil.
- Native Budworm
- Helicoverpa punctigera, length
20mm
Moth, wingspan 40mm
- We sometimes found this caterpillar feeding on flower bud. We even found this caterpillar inside a strawberry. This Caterpillar has black dots and pattern of thin dark lines running along the body. Those lines are darker around the second and third segments. The adult moth is brown in colour. Click here for more information.
- Corn Ear Worm, Tomato Grub, Tobacco Budworm, Cotton Bollworm
- Helicoverpa armigera, wingspan 40mm
- On the vegetable (Beans) we brought, we found a small caterpillar which look similar to the Native Budworm caterpillar above and green in colour. We feed it with vegetables and a week later it turn into a pupa. Two weeks late it turn into the moth, as shown in the above pictures. Please check this page for more details.
- Reference:
- 1. Moths of Australia - I. F. B. Common, Melbourne University Press, 1990, p465.
- We sometimes found this caterpillar feeding on flower bud. We even found this caterpillar inside a strawberry. This Caterpillar has black dots and pattern of thin dark lines running along the body. Those lines are darker around the second and third segments. The adult moth is brown in colour. Click here for more information.
