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Sticker of Cotton bollworm
Bug card No. 0365 of 1,500

Cotton bollworm

Helicoverpa armigera
Eats: PlantsMothsGardens and meadows6 legs

The cotton bollworm is a moth with yellowish, orange or greenish grey wings. Its caterpillars are very hungry and eat lots of different crops, especially cotton and tomatoes. That makes it one of the biggest pests on farms around the world.

Lives in
Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, and now also South America
Length
1.2 to 2 cm (0.47 to 0.79 in)
Wingspan
3 to 4 cm (1.2 to 1.6 in)
Top speed
about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It only harms crops on farms.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat many kinds of plants, like cotton, tomatoes, corn, chickpeas and beans. They can even eat each other.
For real!Photo of Cotton bollworm
Picture by Eric SYLVESTRE. CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Cotton bollworm about 2 cm long (0.79 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)

How wide are its wings?

Cotton bollworm wings about 4 cm tip to tip (1.6 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 3 grains of rice in a rowwings as wide as 7 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 27 secondsmoves 190 times its own body length every second

How big is Cotton bollworm compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The girls have yellow to orange front wings, and the boys have greenish grey ones.

2

One mother can lay several hundred eggs, and the whole life from egg to moth can take just over a month.

3

If you disturb a caterpillar, it drops off the plant and curls up on the ground.

4

The caterpillar can grow up to 4 centimetres long.

5

It is a traveller that can fly all the way north to Scandinavia.

you asked

Most asked questions about Cotton bollworm

?What does the cotton bollworm eat?

Its caterpillars eat many crops, especially cotton, tomatoes, corn and chickpeas.

?How big is the cotton bollworm moth?

Its body is about 12 to 20 millimetres long and its wings are 3 to 4 centimetres across.

?Is the cotton bollworm dangerous?

Not to people. It is only a problem for farmers because its caterpillars eat their crops.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Helicoverpa armigera
Group
Moths
Family
Noctuidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Oceania, South America, North America
Also known as
Old World bollworm, Scarce bordered straw

Where the facts come from

  1. Helicoverpa armigera (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Eric SYLVESTRE. CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

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