Host plants of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the Americas

The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith, 1797) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is the most important noctuid pest in the Americas and has recently become an invasive pest in Africa. A detailed record of S. frugiperda's host plants is essential to better understand the biology and ecology of this pest, conduct future studies, and develop Integrated Pest Management programmes. In this study, we collected and systematically arranged the fragmented bibliographic information on S. frugiperda feeding records. Furthermore, we registered new records of host plants for S. frugiperda based on eight years of surveys in Brazil. The literature review and surveys resulted in a total of 353 S. frugiperda larval host plant records belonging to 76 plant families, principally Poaceae (106), Asteraceae (31) and Fabaceae (31). The literature search revealed 274 (77 % of total) bibliographic records, while 82 (23 %) are new records from surveys in Brazil. The new comprehensive and updated host plant list will improve our understanding of pest biology and management, as well as facilitate future studies on this pest.