Many other caterpillars, including Noctuidae and some kinds of processionary caterpillars, come out at night to feed, but hide again as soon as the sky begins to grow lighter. Note that the cutworm mode of feeding is only one version of a strategy of avoiding predators and parasitoids by day. For example, it has been suggested that in South Africa for one, Agrotis segetum is the second worst pest of maize. Cutworms accordingly are serious pests to gardeners in general, but to vegetable and grain farmers in particular. Cutworms are not worms, biologically speaking, but caterpillars.Ĭutworm larvae vary in their feeding behaviour some remain with the plant they cut down and feed on it, while others often move on after eating a small amount from a felled seedling such a wasteful mode of feeding results in disproportionate damage to crops. A larva typically attacks the first part of the plant it encounters, namely the stem, often of a seedling, and consequently cuts it down hence the name cutworm.

The cutworm larva of the large yellow underwing ( Noctua pronuba)Ĭutworms are moth larvae that hide under litter or soil during the day, coming out in the dark to feed on plants.

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