Florida Nature Pictures
Butterflies

Southern Armyworm Moth Life Cycle
Spodoptera eridania

I founds over 50 of these Southern Armyworm caterpillars chewing away at my Parsley Crop here in South Florida on 3/27/10
They were about 15mm long.

Here are my armyworms about a week and a half later. Now they are about 30mm long.
Their larval stage is about 2 -3 weeks.

They dropped to the soil and formed cocoons on 4/11/10. Usually, they pupate 5-10 below the soil.
You can see the one to the far right had made a cover of sand and silk to hide and protect the pupa.
I flipped it over to take the picture and disturbed the poor guy.
They move in the pupa stage, jerking the lower half back and forth
to scare away predators.
It took about 2 days for them to fully form the pupa after dropping to the soil.

On 4/20/10 the moths emerged.
When their wings are fully dried, they start vibrating them
to get ready for their first flight.

Noctuidae , Southern ArmyWorm Moth
Spodoptera eridania

Caterpillar hosts plants: Several vegetable, fruit, field and ornamental crops

04 /2010

All Images Copywritten and Property of digitalwildlife.com