Chloridea virescens
| Chloridea virescens | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Superfamily: | Noctuoidea |
| Family: | Noctuidae |
| Subfamily: | Heliothinae |
| Genus: | Chloridea |
| Species: | C. virescens |
| Binomial name | |
| Chloridea virescens (Fabricius, 1777) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Chloridea virescens, commonly known as the tobacco budworm, is a moth of the family Noctuidae found throughout the eastern and southwestern United States along with parts of Central America and South America.
It is a major pest of field crops including tobacco (as its common name suggests) and cotton. However, it is able to thrive on a wide variety of host plants ranging from fruits, vegetables, flowers, and weeds. Control of this pest has proven to be particularly difficult due to a variety of factors, but widespread insecticide and pesticide resistance have proven particularly concerning.
Chloridea virescens was formerly a member of the genus Heliothis, but was moved to the reinstated genus Chloridea as a result of genetic and morphological research published in 2013.