Evidence of cannibalism is usually associated with higher population density, or lower food plant quality, and has been reported in half of all terrestrial, herbivorous insects. However, we found that cannibalism can still occur in Spodoptera frugiperda when only two larvae had been provided with an abundance of corn leaves, a high-quality food. We analyzed the causes of cannibalism, its benefits and the nutritional physiology of the winner of cannibalistic contests. We found that there were different frequencies of cannibalism on five different plant foods, with the lowest incidence on corn leaves and the highest on rice leaves. Cannibalism is only beneficial to survival if fourth- to sixth-instar larvae cannibalize more than three conspecifics of the same age. Because of the higher incidence of partial pupation and a lower emergence rate in cannibal larvae, the probability of a newly molted sixth-instar larva subject to sudden food deprivation developing into a moth was about 5.42%. Transcriptome and real-time PCR suggest that the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and putative solute carrier family 38 member 9 (SLC38A9) of cannibal larvae could be key hubs for gluconeogenesis and the utilization of amino acids from cannibalized conspecifics. In conclusion, cannibalism in S. frugiperda is essential for larvae to survive starvation, or to successfully colonize new, nutrient-poor, food plants. Further research on cannibalism in may allow the development of novel pest control strategies to control this major, invasive, global pest.

食人性的证据通常与人口密度较高或食用植物质量较低有关，据报道，在所有陆生食草昆虫中有一半为食虫。但是，我们发现食人鱼仍可以在食食夜蛾中发生自相残杀当只给两个幼虫提供了丰富的玉米叶时，这是一种高质量的食物。我们分析了自相残杀的原因，自相残杀的好处以及自相残杀竞赛获胜者的营养生理。我们发现，在五种不同的植物性食物上，自相残杀的频率不同，玉米叶发生率最低，水稻叶发生率最高。如果四龄至六龄幼虫蚕食了同龄的三个以上同种异体，则食人症仅对生存有利。由于部分化ation的发生率较高，而食虫幼虫的出苗率较低，因此，新近蜕变的六龄幼虫突然食物不足而变成蛾的可能性约为5.42％。转录组和实时PCR表明，食人鱼幼虫的磷酸烯醇丙酮酸羧激酶（PEPCK）和推定的溶质载体家族38成员9（SLC38A9）可能是糖异生和食人同种异体中氨基酸利用的关键枢纽。总而言之，食人族在弗氏链球菌对于幼虫在饥饿中生存或成功定植营养不良的新型食用植物至关重要。对食人族的进一步研究可能允许开发新颖的害虫控制策略来控制这种主要的入侵性全球害虫。