Rapid antibody-based field test to distinguish between Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera : Noctuidae) and Helicoverpa punctigera (Lepidoptera : Noctuidae)

Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) and Helicoverpa punctigera (Wallengren) are t he two most important insect pests of cotton production in Australia and re quire application of insecticides to control them. H. armigera has develope d resistance to several insecticides but ti. punctigera has not. Cost-effec tive management of insecticide resistance requires that growers be able to determine the proportion of H. armigera eggs or young larvae present on the ir crop before applying insecticides. This is impossible visually. We gener ated two monoclonal antibodies that reacted with the insect protein -lipoph orin" and were capable of discriminating individuals of the two species at all life-stages. The antibodies were incorporated into a rapid test lilt th at was tested under field conditions over two growing seasons. Results obta ined with the lilt agreed closely with those obtained by rearing larvae thr ough to second instar.