#3112 - Helicoverpa armigera conferta - Cotton Bollworm Moth
AKA Chloridea armigera, Chloridea obsoleta, Helicoverpa commoni and obsoleta┬аHeliothis armigera, Heliothis conferta, Heliothis fusca, Heliothis pulverosa, Heliothis rama, Heliothis uniformis, Noctua armigera┬аand Noctua barbara, corn earworm,┬аOld World (African) bollworm, and scarce bordered straw┬аin the UK, where the subspecies H. a armigera is an occasional vagrant.
Helicoverpa armigera armigera┬аis native and widespread in central and southern Europe, temperate Asia and Africa, and recently Brazil - H. a. conferta is native to Australia and Oceania. Both subspecies are ruinous agricultural pests, with extremely wide diets, and have evolved resistance to many pesticides and genetically engineered crops.
The female can lay several hundred eggs, and under favourable conditions, the lifecycle can be complete in just over a month. As well as eating all those crops, the caterpillars are rather aggressive, occasionally┬аcarnivorous┬аand may cannibalise┬аeach other.
Various places around Perth - we didn't see any on the Wongan Hills trip but no doubt they were around.