author(s)
DR Balaji, S Jeyarani, K Ramaraju, S Mohankumar and PS Shanmugam

abstract
In this study, extensive survey was carried out for the occurrence of T. absoluta in different vegetable growing regions of Tamil Nadu during August, 2015 to April, 2016. Among the forty one localities surveyed, T. absoluta infestation was found nearly in 25 localities of Tamil Nadu. Among them, the incidence was highest in a polyhouse of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) orchard (92.50 %) followed by 89.70 per cent in Echampatti village of Krishnagiri district and 82.40 per cent in Magendra mangalam village of Dharmapuri district. Apart from tomato, T. absoluta damage was also recorded on brinjal at TNAU orchard (9.72%) and potato at wood house, Horticultural Research Station, Ooty (26.67%). Characterisation of Tuta absoluta populations from Coimbatore, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri Districts using cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) revealed that the Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri populations were closely related with NCBI accessions sourced from Pune, Maharashtra (Accession No. KP814055) and the Coimbatore population was closely related with Florida (KJ657679) and Bonsia (KC852871).