An inventory of moths in the vegetable agroecosystems of northern kerala

Abstract
Occurrence of moths in agroecosystems of Northern Kerala is very scanty, especially in the mixed vegetables. Hence monitoring was done with surveys in mixed vegetable agroecosystems of five districts of northern Kerala covering five districts viz., Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod during October 2018 to 2019 over 91 nights. A total of 424 moths were collected and identified under 24 species representing 4 families viz., Erebidae, Crambidae, Noctuidae and Eupterotidae. Herpetogramma bipunctalis(Crambidae), Syntomoides imaon(Erebidae), Agrotis sp. (Noctuidae) and Eupterotis mollifera (Eupterotidae) are the dominant species collected. The pest attacks are noticed more in brinjal and cowpea and were less in tomato and colocasia.