A Multiplex Real-Time PCR Assay to Diagnose and Separate Helicoverpa armigera and H. zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the New World.

ABSTRACT: The Old World bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), and the corn earworm, H. zea (Boddie), are two of the most important agricultural pests in the world. Diagnosing these two species is difficult-adults can only be separated with a complex dissection, and larvae cannot be identified to species using morphology, necessitating the use of geographic origin for identification in most instances. With the discovery of H. armigera in the New World, identification of immature Helicoverpa based on origin is no longer possible because H. zea also occurs in all of the geographic regions where H. armigera has been discovered. DNA barcoding and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses have been reported in publications to distinguish these species, but these methods both require post

SUBMITTER: Gilligan TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4641610 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature