Rearing of Armyworm, Spodoptera litura（Fabricius）（Lepidoptera: Noctuidae）, by Feeding with Morus alba（L.）（Rosales: Moraceae）Leaves

We discovered an egg batch of a moth species laid on the leaves of Ficus microcarpa（L.f）（Rosales: Moraceae）at Kyushu University. The larvae hatched from the eggs were fed on both F. microcarpa and Morus alba（L.）（Rosales: Moraceae）. Mulberry latex is known to be toxic to most lepidopteran larvae, with the exception of a few, such as Bombyx mori（Linnaeus）（Lepidoptera: Bombycidae）. However, to our surprise, the larvae developed normally, pupated, and emerged as fertile moths. We also investigated whether the larvae of the species fed on M. alba leaves and developed normally throughout the larval stage. Finally, we identified the species as Spodoptera litura （Fabricius）（Lepidoptera: Noctuidae）through observation of the external morphology of the moths and sequencing of the cytochrome oxidase I （COI）gene.