List of Lepidoptera that Feed on Strawberry Plants

• Strawberry plants provide food for humans and members of the order Lepidoptera. Jupiterimages/liquidlibrary/Getty Images

  Those encountering a member of the order Lepidoptera may be confused at first whether they face a moth or butterfly. According to the University of California Museum of Paleontology, Lepidoptera includes both butterflies and moths, with scale-covered wings in iridescent colors. Each member passes through four stages in a full life cycle: egg to larva, pupa and adult.

Noctua Pronuba

• The Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) appears in large numbers in Britain and populates North America, Europe and Asia. The moth shows a range of colors and patterns, but is remarkable for its yellow hindwings with a black border. Seen from July through September, the moths demonstrate an attraction to light and have a distinctive flight style, notable if the moth flushes from cover. The pupal stage occurs in May; adult moths emerge starting in June; and the moths lay eggs in August.

  The University of Idaho Extension warns that the larvae -- known as winter cutworms -- feed heavily as temperatures warm in spring and in the period from the end of summer to fall, but they also feed all winter. Cutworms can potentially damage crops. The extension recommends identifying the worm by the dark dashes which occur down the length of its olive brown body. The larvae feed at night, dining on grasses and garden plants, including strawberries and grapes. They can cause damage to spring fruits, but usually pose a late summer problem.

Helicoverpa Zea

• The grey to brown colored, 1.5-inch moth Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) -- formerly Heliothis zea (Boddie) -- produces larvae commonly referred to as corn earworms. The University of California's California Agriculture website refers to corn earworm as "one of the most damaging and widespread insect pests in North America." The worms consume strawberry foliage, but a great loss occurs with fruit damage from the burrowing larvae.

  While trap crops such as corn have proven effective at luring adult moths away from strawberry beds, gardeners should be aware that the moths also feed on numerous garden vegetables, fruits and ornamentals. Pheromone traps, minute pirate bugs, ladybird beetles and parasitic wasps (Trichogramma pretiosum) have shown limited effectiveness at controlling earworm populations.

Spodoptera Exigua

• The 1-inch grey and brown moth Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) represents the adult form of the beet armyworm. A prominent bean-shaped spot on the wing sets the moth apart from other, similarly colored moths. Like the corn earworm, the beet armyworm feeds on strawberry foliage and fruits and on many other garden crops. Gardeners can spot the presence of larvae by watching for skeletonized leaves, according to the University of California Davis' Integrated Pest Management Guidelines. Weed control may be the best help in lowering the pest's numbers, as the moths also lay eggs in weeds, and weeds host the larvae. Insecticide resistance and lack of effective natural enemies leave chemical controls as one of the few treatments available.