What is there in the name? from Cricket to CRICKET*
Photocredit: iStock-Captainflash accessed on 27th March 2024 Some years ago, I gave a seminar on Bt resistance in the American bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera in the University of Melbourne, Australia. At the end of seminar, Prof Dean said it is not American bollworm, but a cotton bollworm. In USA, H. armigera is not found. So, it is misnomer to call it an American bollworm. In India, we are so used to calling it as an American bollworm, that many will find it odd or difficult to relate to calling as cotton bollworm, least they confuse with other bollworms. This species does not find mention in the H M Lefroy’s book, Indian Insect life published in 1909. It is in the latter half of the 20 th century that this insect species was referred to as pod borer [MS Mani’s book, General Entomology] and some time, bollworm of cotton. The American bollworm stuck from the time we started growing upland cotton [new world cotton] belonging to Gossypium hirsutum and to some extent G. b...