Spodoptera cosmioides

Spodoptera cosmioides is an armyworm moth of the family Noctuidae found in Central America and South America (from Panama and Trinidad south to Argentina).

Taxonomy
Walker (1858) originally described cosmioides, placing it in the genus Prodenia.

Basionym: Prodenia cosmioides Walker, 1858.

Pogue (2002) revived S. cosmioides (Walker, 1858), as a valid species (though misspelled as S. cosmiodes), from synonymy with S. latifascia (Walker, 1856).

Description
The wingspan is about 38 to 42 mm.

Ecology
No host plants are listed for S. cosmioides on the HOSTS database of the Natural History Museum, London. However, S. cosmioides and closely related congeners feed on many herbaceous plants and are regarded as pests thereof (e.g. da Silva et al., 2017 ).

Geography
Type Locality: Pará, Brazil.

Pogue (2002) saw voucher material from the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad, Venezuela.

Similar species

 * Spodoptera latifascia (Walker, 1856)
 * Spodoptera descoinsi Lalanne-Cassou & Silvain, 1994

(see Pogue, 2002) for differences