Report of Anarta trifolii (lep.:Noctuidae) as a sugar beet pest in Isfahan, Iran

To determine armyworm species in sugar beet fields in Isfahan, monthly or biweekly sampling of lepidopteran larvae or pupae from soil or beet leaves was conducted in Abrisham town of Isfahan, Iran in 2014. Samples were sent to the laboratory and their DNA was extracted after reaching adult stage and morphological identification was performed. Afterward, a region of the Cytochrome Oxidase I gene was PCR amplified using Lep – F / R primers and was sent to Macrogen Inc. company (Seoul, Korea) for sequencing. The amplified segment alignment and its BlAST with the sequences available in NCBI showed that among the identified samples, only one sample had 100% similarity with Anarta trifolii (hufnagel, 1766) sample from Canada. Species composition of noctuids was determined by collecting 476 larvae or pupae in 10 sampling times. Spodoptera exigua (42.65%) and A. trifolii (38.45%) had the highest frequency of noctuid species.