Survival of immature Helicoverpa punctigera (Wallengren) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on some C4 and C3 plants

Abstract

<p><i>Helicoverpa punctigera</i> (Wallengren) larvae have been recorded on native non-crop hosts in the inland regions of Australia. However, there are few records of their survival on these non-crop hosts, especially on plants with the C4 photosynthetic pathway. We investigated larval survival on four C4 plant species (<i>Atriplex numularia</i> Lindl. <i>Atriplex vesicaria</i> Heward ex Benth., <i>Portulaca oleraceae</i> L. and Tribulus terrestris L.) and two C3 plant species (<i>Medicago polymorpha</i> L. and <i>Cullen cinereum</i> (Lindl.)) under glasshouse conditions. Larvae fed on all C4 plants, although performance varied among these plants being higher (32.2 ± 6.9 and 31.7 ± 6.9% survival) on the <i>Atriplex</i> plant species and lowest (15.9 ± 7.9% survival) on P. oleraceae. Larval survival was similar between the two Atriplex species. A direct comparison of larval performance between the C4 plant <i>A. nummularia</i> and the known <i>H. punctigera</i> C3 host plants <i>C. cinereum</i> or <i>M. polymorpha</i> suggested that this C4 plant might be a suitable food source in the field, particularly in situations where it is growing nearby to C3 plants as is common in inland Australia.</p>