*4.3.3 Pink cornworm (*Helicoverpa zea *(Boddie, 1850) Lepidoptera: Noctuidea)*

*Distribution:* The pink cornworm is found all over the world especially in warmer regions.

*Host range:* They mainly feed on corn seeds, husk, and cob in both fields and storage ones.

*Bionomics:* Pink corn worm is a small moth having banded fore wings with black, yellow, and brown bands. Hind wings are gray in color, cylindrical, and are edged with long fringes. Females are laying single or occasionally two or three eggs which are white in color. The larvae or caterpillars are pink with pale brown thorax and head.

*Damage symptoms*: The main indication of its presence in the formation of a large amount of frass that is loosely webbed together and fills the gaps between the kernels.

### *4.3.4 Rice moth (*Corcyra cephalonica *(Stainton, 1866) Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)*

*Distribution:* The rice moth is mainly distributed in Africa, Asia, and Europe. It is one of the most important pests in both India and Pakistan in its larval stage.

*Host range:* Rice moth is a very serious pest of stored paddy, rice, and other cereals. It is widely distributed in all rice-growing areas. It grows well in humid and warm climates and also infests wheat, sorghum, maize, barley, oilseeds, and sweet products.

*Bionomics:* Rice moth is pale, grayish-brown in color, and is generally 11–12 mm long. Females are larger than males. Adult life is usually for a week. The Head is provided with tufts of hairs. Almost 200 eggs are laid by females which are small, oval, and are mostly laid on bags, walls. Larvae differ from the larvae of Indian meal moths in having variable color forms such as white, green, and slightly bluish-gray. Larvae feed on rice, biscuits, candies, cocoa, and other kitchen foods. Pupae are pink, elongated, cylindrical with dark spots on the apical side.

*Damage symptoms*: While feeding, larvae produce dense silken web structures that show their infestation. Besides these pests also pollute the environment with large quantities of frass and silken cocoons, webbing together the grains into large lumps occur.

### *4.3.5 Fig-almond moth (*Cadra cautella *(Walker, 1863) Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)*

*Distribution:* The almond month is also known as fig moth. It is widely spread in the tropics and subtropical areas.

*Host range:* It causes severe damage to figs, rough rice, dry fruits, wheat, barley, sorghum, oilseeds, etc.

*Bionomics:* The fig-almond moth (Lepidoptera: Phycitidae) is small, grayish, with transverse spines on the outer wing margin. Nearly 200–250 eggs which are small, oval, whitish in color are deposited by gravid females inside cracks and crevices. Eggs are usually less than 1 mm and hatched around 4 days. Larvae are pinkish-white, living inside the spinning tubes, and later construct silken cocoons for pupation. The pupal period is 7–10 days, which are later emerging into the adult stage, commonly referred to as moths. Moths are generally more abundant during

rainy and humid seasons. In certain cases, they only use stored grain pests as their breeding sites and not for feeding purposes.

*Damage symptoms*: The presence of larvae is a sign of infestation. The larvae make tunnels inside the food grains. They can also block the machinery or mills with clot formation.
