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Migration and the life history strategy of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda in the western hemisphere*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2011

S. J. Johnson
S. J. Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803
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Abstract

The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), has a high reproductive rate of 900–1000 eggs per female, a relatively short generation time of 30 days and good dispersal ability. These traits make it a successful colonizing species. There is a large body of circumstantial evidence that migration is a major component in the life history strategy of this species. Although the fall armyworm is unable to survive the winter in the United States except in southern areas of Florida and Texas, it redistributes itself over most of the eastern United States each growing season. Long-range movement from Mississippi to Canada in 30 hr on a low-level jet stream was documented on one occasion with synoptic weather maps. Many fall armyworm moths have been collected in the Gulf of Mexico as far as 250 km from land, indicating the possibility of seasonal trans-Gulf migration between the United States and the tropics. Electrophoretic analyses of populations of a corn “race” of fall armyworm collected throughout the Caribbean Basin indicated low genetic heterogeneity. Nei's genetic distance estimate (0.015) and Wright's Fst value (0.032) both suggested undifferentiated populations with interbreeding across the entire geographic range. Wet and dry seasons in the east and west coast of Central America and elsewhere in the tropics alternate with each other so that only one habitat is available at a time. This fluctuation in available habitat is proposed as the templet that led to the evolution and maintenance of migration in the colonizing life history strategy of the fall armyworm.

Résumé

La légionnaire d'automne, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), possède un fort potentiel reproducteur de 900–1000 oeufs par femelle, un cycle vital bref de 30 jours et un grand pouvoir de dispersion. Ces traits en font une bonne espèce colonisatrice. Il existe plusieurs preuves circonstancielles que la migration joue un role de première importance dans la stratégie du cycle vital de cette espèce. La légionnaire d'automne est incapable de survivre à l'hiver américain sauf dans certaines régions de la Floride et du Texas, elle se redistribue à l'est des Etats-Unis à chaque saison. A une occasion, un long déplacement d'un courant d'air de basse altitude du Mississipi au Canada en 30 heures fut documenté a partir de cartes climatiques synoptiques. Plusieurs adultes de la légionnaire d'automne furent récoltés dans le Golfe du Mexique, à plus de 250 km des côtes, indiquant la possibilité d'une migration saisonnière entre les tropiques et les Etats-Unis. L'analyse electrophorétique des populations d'une “race” du maïs de la légionnaire d'automne récoltées à travers le bassin des Caraïbes indique une faible hétérogénéité génétique. La distance génétique de Nei (0.015) et la valeur Fst de Wright (0.032) suggèrent l'existence d'une population indifférenciée qui s'accouplerait sur l'ensemble de la répartition géographique de l'espèce. Les saisons sèches et humides alternent de la côte est à la côte ouest de l'Amérique Centrale et des tropiques de telle façon qu'il n'y a qu'un seul habitat disponible à tout moment. Cette fluctuation dans la disponibilité d'habitat est proposée comme le patron qui a permi l'évolution et le maintient de la migration dans la stratégie colonisatrice du cycle vital de la légionnaire d'automne.

Keywords

Fall armywormSpodoptera frugiperdamigrationpopulation geneticsevolutionlife history strategy
Type
Symposium IV: Migration and Dispersal of Tropical Noctuid Moths
Information
International Journal of Tropical Insect Science , Volume 8 , Issue 4-5-6: Recent Advances in Research on Tropical Entomology , December 1987 , pp. 543 - 549
Copyright
Copyright © ICIPE 1987

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