New pest identified in West and Central Africa!

20 May 2018

A second armyworm from the Americas introduced into tropical Africa

A new pest—southern armyworm, Spodoptera eridania (Stoll)—has been discovered in West and Central Africa!

This introduced second armyworm species from the Americas was first found in cassava fields in south-eastern Nigeria in December 2016, reported Dr Georg Goergen, Entomologist/Biocontrol Specialist and Head of IITA’s Biodiversity Center in Bénin. Its presence was confirmed by DNA barcode analysis at IITA headquarters in Ibadan.

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