This document provides information on common insect pests of cotton and their descriptions. It lists 9 major pests including their scientific names, descriptions of adults, eggs, nymphs and damage symptoms. For each pest, it mentions active period, number of generations per year, and control methods both chemical and non-chemical. It concludes by providing economic threshold levels for deciding control measures for different pests based on number observed per leaf or plant.

2. Name of pest Scientific name Family Order
Jassid Amrasca biguttula Cicadellidae Homoptera
Aphid Aphis gossypii Aphididae Homoptera
Whitefly Bemisia tabaci Aleyrodidae Homoptera
Thrips Thrips tabaci Thripidae Thysanoptera
Red Cotton Bug Dysdercus koenigii Pyrrhocoridae Hemiptera
Cotton Mealybug
Phenacoccus
solenopsis
Pseudococcidae Hemiptera
Spotted Bollworm
Earis vitella
Earis insulana
Noctuidae Lepidoptera
Pink Bollworm
Pectinophora
gossypiella
Gelechiidae Lepidoptera
American Bollworm Helicoverpa armigera Noctuidae Lepidoptera
Armyworm Spodoptea litura Noctuidae Lepidoptera
Insect Pests of Cotton
2

4.  Adult: Adults are greenish yellow, wedge
shaped with a pair of black spots on vertex
and a black spot on each of the forewings
 Eggs: Yellowish white
 Nymph: Wedge shape and very active. Six
nymphal instars


10. 
 Active Period : March – November
 Inactive period : November to February
 No. of generations : 7 generations

11.  DAMAGE:
 Nymph and adults both cause the damage.
 Suck the cell sap from the underside of the
leaves
 The infected leaves show pale yellow
colouration. In case of heavy infestation the
leaves turn inwards and edges may turn light
pinkish brown.

12.  CONTROL:
 Non Chemical Control:
◦ Excessive use of fertilizer should be avoided
◦ Clean cultivation and removal of weeds
◦ Use of hairy varieties
◦ Predator:
 Chrysoperla carnea
 Chemical Control:
◦ immidacloprid (Confidor 200 SL) 60 ml / acre
◦ bifenthrin (Talstar 10 EC) 200-250ml /acre

14.  HOST
◦ Cotton, Sunflower, Jute, cauliflower, cabbage,
melon, peas, tomato, brinjal

15. DESCRIPTION
 Adult: Body is yellowish and covered with
white fine waxy powder, two pairs of pure
white wings, The hind wings are
prominently long
 Eggs: Creamy white to brown, stalked.
Eggs are laid singly on the under surface of
the leaves

16. DESCRIPTION
 Nymph: First nymphal instars are elliptic, smooth
and white, yellowish or translucent and mobile.
They have low mobile legs and they are established
near the egg-lay. After establishment they change
into 2nd instar. Second and third nymphal instars
are immobile, their size increase during
development and the colour changes from
semitransparent to creamy yellow.
 Pupa: last instar is called as Pupa, yellow has
distinct eyespots

25. DAMAGE:
 Sucking cell sap
 Injection of toxic saliva
 Sooty mold
 It is alone responsible for the transmission of
about 50 diseases on 70 plants, important one is
Cotton leaf curl virus

27.  Active Period :Active throughout the year
 No. of generations : 10-12 generations

28. CONTROL:
 Non Chemical Control:
◦ Avoid cultivation of alternative hosts
◦ Avoid excessive application of nitrogen fertilizers
◦ Avoid over irrigation
◦ Predator:
 Chrysoperla carnea
 Chemical Control:
◦ immidacloprid (Confidor 200 SL) 250 ml / acre
◦ acetamiprid (Mospilan 20 SP) 125 gm/acre

29. HOST:
 Cotton, onion, garlic, cabbage, cauliflower,
tomato, cucmber


30. DESCRIPTION:
 Adult: Slender, yellowish brown,, males are
wingless, females have long, narrow strap like
wings with long hairs along the margins
 Eggs: Kidney shaped, laid singly
 Nymphs: Paler in colour. Four nymphal
instars. Last stage of nymph is called
pseudo-pupa

37.  Active Period :Active throughout the year
 No. of generations : 5-8 generations

38. DAMAGE:
 Adult and larvae feed on leaves, terminals, and
other tender plant parts.
 Ragged crinkled leaves with a silvery appearance
are typical symptoms of thrips damage to young
cotton.
 Leaves usually curl upward and appear burned
along edges as a result of feeding in the
terminals.
 Thrips damage is usually on young cotton and
severe damage may stunt cotton growth and
reduce yields.

41. CONTROL:
 Non Chemical Control:
◦ Avoid cultivation of alternative hosts
◦ Avoid excessive application of nitrogen fertilizers

 Chemical Control:
◦ immidacloprid (Confidor 200 SL) 60 ml / acre
◦ acetamiprid (Mospilan 20 SP) 125 gm/acre

43. HOST:
 Cotton, tobacco, tomato, brinjal, sunflower

44. DESCRIPTION:
 Adult: Female adult is wingless, has white mealy
powder on its body and two black lines on the upper
side of abdomen.
 Adult male is winged and short lived, having
transparent wings.
 Eggs: Eggs are oblong and light yellow.
 Nymph: Oval and yellow, early nymphal instars have
no mealy powder on their body. Three instars
 Pupa: Male goes into pupal stage, which is white
in color and covered by silken threads as cocoons

52.  Active Period :Active throughout the year
 No. of generations :12 -15 generations

53. DAMAGE:
 Adults and nymphs weaken the plants by
sucking sap from leaves, twigs, stems, roots
and fruiting bodies.
 Bolls are deformed, fewer and smaller in size
in affected plants.
 Honey dew secreted by the pest encourages
development of black sooty mould which
adversely affecting photosynthetic activity.

54. CONTROL:
 Non Chemical Control:
◦ Remove alternate host plants
◦ Do not throw uprooted weeds in water channel.
◦ Uproot severely affected cotton plants
◦ Predators
 Coccinellid beetle
 Chrysoperla carnea
 Chemical Control:
◦ profenofos (Curacron 50 EC) 1000 ml / acre
◦ methomyl (Lannate 40 SP) 300 gmacre

56. DESCRIPTION:
 Adult: Forewings
of Earis insulana
are grass green
 while the forewings
of Earis vitella are
straw yellow with a
narrow light
longitudinal green
strip in the middle.

57. DESCRIPTION:
 Eggs:
Blue colored
sculptured eggs
laid singly or in
groups on shoot
tips and flowers

58. DESCRIPTION:
 Earis insulana larvae
are dull greenish
white with a number
of black marks on
the body and orange
spots on the
prothoracic segment
 while Earis vitella
larvae are brownish
with a median
longitudinal streak
and ventrum is pale
yellow and green.
Have six instars.

59. DESCRIPTION:
 Pupa:
Pupates in silken
cocoon on plant or
side soil

60. Adult: 18 – 34 days
Eggs
3-4 days
larva: 7-18 days
Pupa
7-25 days

61.  Active Period : July – September
 Inactive period : November – February
 No. of generations : 6-8 generations

62. DAMAGE
 Initially, the caterpillars will tunnel into buds, by
destroying vessels and growing points, they
cause adjacent blooms, young leaves and
eventually whole shoots to turn blackish-brown
and die off.
 When fruiting starts, the larvae will turn towards
the bolls, which then become brown and fall off
as a result.
 The entrance holes in bolls are neatly rounded

64. CONTROL
 Non Chemical Control:
◦ After harvest, cotton plants (which can sprout from
the stump) should be uprooted and destroyed
◦ Egg parasitoid:
 Trichogramma chilonis
 Chemical Control:
◦ lamdacyhalothrin (Karate 2.5 EC) 330 ml / acre
◦ indoxacarb (Steward 150 SC) 175 ml /acre

66. DESCRIPTION
 Adult: Dark brown , forewings have blackish spots
while margin of hind wings are deeply fringed
 Eggs: Eggs are white when first laid but then turn
orange
 Larvae: Larvae are white with a brown head when they
hatch. They have four stages of growth (instars) and
begin to turn pink in the fourth instar.
 Pupa: Yellowish brown and about the size of rice
grain.

71. Adult: 2-29 days
Eggs
3-7 days
larva: 8-16 days
Pupa
6-17 days

72.  Active Period : March – October
 Inactive period : November – February
 No. of generations : 4-6 generations

73.  Full grown larvae of the last generation do no
pupate, some of them try to reach the ground
while most of them keep feeding inside the
bolls, they cut window holes in the two
adjoining seeds and join them together
forming “double seeds”. The hibernating
larvae lie curled in the double seeds for many
months.

74. DAMAGE
 The larva enter the flower, secrete material
which join flower petals and forms rossetted
flowers.
 The infected flower cannot open and it affects
the reproductive parts of flower.
 It also enters the bolls and closes the hole. It
destroys lint.

80. CONTROL
 Non Chemical Control:
◦ After last picking, grazing of sheep and goats in the
field.
◦ Deep ploughing to bury affected bolls after harvesting
◦ Use of pheromone traps,
◦ Egg parasitoid:
 Trichogramma chilonis
 Chemical Control:
◦ lamdacyhalothrin (Karate 2.5 EC) 330 ml / acre
◦ indoxacarb (Steward 150 SC) 175 ml /acre

82. DESCRIPTION
 Adult:
stoutly and
yellowish brown,
forewings are
brown having
grayish wavy lines
and kidney shaped
black mark and a
round spot on the
underside.

84. DESCRIPTION
 Egg:
Dome shaped, in
the beginning
they are pale
white and later
turns into pale
brown. Lay eggs
singly,

85. DESCRIPTION
 Larva:
Early instars are
white with dark head,
later instars become
green and have
stripes on the dorsal
and lateral sides,
sometime continuous
and sometimes
broken. Also have
hairs on its body.
Total six instars.

87. DESCRIPTION
 Pupa:
Dark brown with a
sharp spine at the
posterior end.
Pupate in soil

88. Adult: 7-25 days
Eggs
2-4 days
larva: 15-20 days
Pupa
8-15 days

89.  Active Period : April – October
 Inactive period : November – January
 No. of generations : 4-8 generations

90. DAMAGE
 The larvae feed on the leaves initially and
then bore on the squares/bolls and seeds and
their head thrust the boll, leaving residues of
the body outside. Larvae show preference for
feeding on squares and flowers when present,
however, feed on young bolls also. The entry
holes are large and circular.

94. CONTROL
 Non Chemical Control:
◦ Deep ploughing to expose the pupa to the external
environment
◦ Avoid growing alternative hosts.
◦ Egg parasitoid:
 Trichogramma chilonis
 Chemical Control:
◦ lufenuron (Match 5 EC) 800 ml / acre
◦ indoxacarb (Steward 150 SC) 175 ml /acre

96. DESCRIPTION
 Adult:
Pale brown,
forewings have
beautiful golden
and grayish brown
patterns.

98. DESCRIPTION
 Egg:
yellowish green,
in masses

99. DESCRIPTION
 Larva:
Larvae have bright yellow
stripes along the back and
the sides.
Larval color varies from pale
green to dark green, and
then finally brown for the
later instars or more
mature forms.
Brown, mature larvae appear
to have three thin yellow,
longitudinal lines: one on
the top or dorsal side and
one each lateral side.
Have 6 larval instars.

102. DESCRIPTION
 Pupa:
Dark brown.
Pupate in soil.

103. Adult: 3-15 days
Eggs
3-5 days
larva: 15-30 days
Pupa
8-15 days

104.  Active Period :Present throughout the year.
 No. of generations : 7-8 generations

105. DAMAGE
 They feed gregariously for the first few days
and then disperse to feed individually. They
feed on the leaves especially the green fleshy
area between the veinlets leaving behind the
skeleton of the leaves.
 Its damage starts in pockets and then spread
quickly

111. CONTROL
 Non Chemical Control:
◦ Deep ploughing to expose the pupa to the
external environment
◦ Avoid growing alternative hosts.
◦ Hand picking of egg masses
◦ Egg parasitoid:
 Trichogramma chilonis
 Chemical Control:
◦ lufenuron (Match 50 EC) 100 ml / acre
◦ indoxacarb (Steward 150 SC) 175 ml /acre

112. Pest ETL
Jassid 1 Nymph or Adult per leaf
Whitefly 5 Nymphs or adults per leaf
Thrips 8-10 per leaf
Aphid 15 per leaf
American Bollworm 5 eggs or 3 larvae per 25 plants
Spotted Boll worm 3 larvae per 25 plants
Pink Bollworm 5 moths per light trap
Armyworm Spray on appearance