Armyworms are the
caterpillar
Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths).
As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...
s of some members of two
genera
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
:
* Many ''
Spodoptera
''Spodoptera'' is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae Species description, erected by Achille Guenée in 1852. Many are known as Pest (organism), pest insects. The larvae are sometimes called armyworms. The roughly thirty species are distrib ...
'' including:
**
African armyworm (''Spodoptera exempta'') (Africa)
**
Fall armyworm (''Spodoptera frugiperda'') (North and South America)
** Lawn armyworm (''
Spodoptera mauritia'')
* Some
''Mythimna'' (moth) including:
** Common armyworm or true armyworm (''
Mythimna unipuncta
''Mythimna unipuncta'', the true armyworm moth, white-speck moth, common armyworm, or rice armyworm, is a species of moth in the family Noctuidae. The species was Species description, first described by Adrian Hardy Haworth in 1809. ''Mythimna un ...
'') (North and South America)
** Northern armyworm, Oriental armyworm or rice ear-cutting caterpillar (''
Mythimna separata'') (Asia)
{{Biology disambiguation
Animal common name disambiguation pages