''Spodoptera cosmioides'' is an

armyworm moth ''Mythimna unipuncta'', the true armyworm moth, white-speck moth, common armyworm or rice armyworm, is a nocturnal agricultural pest belonging to the family Noctuidae. This moth is also commonly referred to by the scientific name ''Pseudaletia ...

of the family

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the othe ...

found in Central America and South America (from Panama and Trinidad south to Argentina).

Taxonomy

Walker (1858) originally described ''cosmioides'', placing it in the genus ''Prodenia''. Basionym: ''Prodenia cosmioides'' Walker, 1858. Pogue (2002) revived ''S. cosmioides'' (Walker, 1858), as a valid species (though misspelled as ''S. cosmiodes''), from synonymy with ''S. latifascia'' (Walker, 1856).

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...

is about .

Ecology

No host plants are listed for ''S. cosmioides'' on the HOSTS database of the Natural History Museum, London. However, ''S. cosmioides'' and closely related congeners feed on many herbaceous plants and are regarded as pests thereof (e.g. da Silva et al., 2017).

Geography

Type Locality:

Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana a ...

, Brazil. Pogue (2002) saw voucher material from the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad, Venezuela.

Similar species

*''

Spodoptera latifascia ''Spodoptera latifascia'', commonly known as the lateral-lined armyworm, garden armyworm, or velvet armyworm, is a moth of the family Noctuidae found from Central America and the Antilles into North America North America is a co ...

'' (Walker, 1856) *''

Spodoptera descoinsi ''Spodoptera'' is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae erected by Achille Guenée in 1852. Many are known as pest insects. The larvae are sometimes called armyworms. The roughly thirty species are distributed across six continents. Descr ...

'' Lalanne-Cassou & Silvain, 1994 (see Pogue, 2002) for differences

References

cosmioides Moths of Central America Moths of South America Lepidoptera of Brazil Moths described in 1858 {{Noctuinae-stub