Corn earworm
The corn earworm is a yellowish brown moth that flies at night. Its caterpillars love to burrow into ears of corn and munch the kernels. They also eat tomatoes, cotton and lots of other crops, so farmers in America know them well.
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Fun facts
The very first meal of a new caterpillar is its own eggshell.
The wind can carry the moths up to 400 km on their night journeys.
A female can lay up to 2,500 eggs in her life.
Young caterpillars eat together, but older ones get grumpy and may even eat each other.
Some farmers put a drop of oil inside the tip of each corn ear to keep the caterpillars out.
Most asked questions about Corn earworm
?What does the corn earworm eat?
Its caterpillars eat corn kernels, tomatoes, cotton and many other crops. The moths sip nectar.
?How big is the corn earworm moth?
Its wings are about 3 to 4.5 centimetres across.
?Is the corn earworm dangerous?
Not to people. It is only a problem for farmers.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Helicoverpa zea
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Noctuidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Noctuidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Cotton bollworm, Tomato fruitworm
Where the facts come from
- Helicoverpa zea (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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