Molecular Identification and First DNA Barcode Sequence Record of Spodoptera pecten Guenee, 1852 (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from Western Himalaya, India

Genus Spodoptera of family Noctuidae, order Lepidoptera comes under Superfamily Noctuidea. This superfamily comprises a large clade of economically important agricultural species known as “pest clade” causing a serious infestation in crops. The species of the Spodoptera genus found in Indo-Australian tropics and New Guinea mostly feeds on grasses and sometimes on Shorea curtisii (Dipterocarpaceae) seeds. The current study presents the molecular-based identification and first DNA barcode sequence of Spodoptera pecten. The first DNA barcode sequence of Spodoptera pecten from India has shown matching similarity with the COI sequences previously deposited from Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and Japan.