Over the winter, I gave a few presentations that touched on armyworms. In the presentations, I usually had pictures of adult armyworms. Several comments I got after the presentations made me realize that armyworm adult moths sometimes are confused with other moths or butterflies that are seen in abundance at certain times of the year. Most likely, one will not see the armyworm moths flying around unless you are driving around the field at night, when they will be attracted to the car lights. They do not fly during the day.

Below are pictures of the true armyworm and western yellowstriped armyworm, the two species we find in rice. I'm not a great photographer, but the pics lets you see that both are somewhat large, thick moths. The true armyworm moth is straw colored, the western yellowstriped armyworm has a greay and browm pattern on the wings. Click on the pictures to see a high resolution image.

The past four years the true armyworm has been the species that has caused problems in rice. Western yellowstriped armyworms have not been very common. This might change this year. I have been finding high number of wester yellowstriped armyworm moths in the traps very early. We will keep monitoring and see what the season brings. For now, enjoy the pictures.

True armyworm

Western yellowstriped armyworm