A nuclear-polyhedrosis virus from Heliothis punctigera Wallengren (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Abstract

A nuclear polyhedrosis virus isolated from larvae of Heliothis punctigera Wllgr. on lucerne in Queensland in 1967-68 is described on the basis of the morphology and size of the polyhedra and virions, pathology, and the incubation period in laboratory infections. The virus did not infect larvae of six other species of Lepidoptera (including the beneficial Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg)) and could be distinguished serologically from viruses from four species. It could not be distinguished from a virus from H. armigera (Hb.), and the viruses from H. punctigera and H. armigera showed reciprocal cross- infectivity.