Opennatur

Adults: Lepidoptera of Noctuidae family of about 4 to 5 cm. of wing span and dark brown color. The fore wings shows a pair of kidney-shaped spots usually grey or brown, and the subsequent wings are whitish with dark veins.

Larvae: muy polífagas arrollándose en espiral con facilidad y ocultándose durante el día en el suelo. Se caracterizan por tener la cabeza de color pardo-amarillenta, con rayas y puntos pardo-negruzcos, y el cuerpo tiene un aspecto aceitoso y un color gris pálido o pardo-grisáceo, con tonos púrpuras o verdosos por arriba, y pardo-amarillentos en su zona ventral. Tienen pelos que salen de unas manchas negruzcas. En su último estadio larvario puede alcanzar un tamaño de 4,7 cm.

Pupae: Pupae are placed on the ground within a blackish cocoon. Light brown at the beginning, and darkening later. It has two slender apical spines on the abdominal end.

DETECTION AND MONITORING
Adults start the fly during spring so that the traps should be placed as soon as possible to perform the monitoring of the desired area. This device will allow to detect new outbreaks as a complement of visual inspection. This specie has from 2 to 4 generations per year, being the most important those of spring and autumn.

• Place a Unitrap (Funnel) trap , per 2 hectare of crop or monitored area.
• Place the trap hanging above 70-90 cm from the soil
• Place the trap in the edge of the plot.
• Place the pheromone inside the trap using gloves.
• Put the insecticide (DDVP vapone) inside the trap in order to cause the insect death.
• Traps are controlled once a week to collect and note the number of insects catch. It is also necessary to check that traps are still well placed.
• Attractants must be renewed every 6 weeks.