Abstract: The results of morphological comparisons and numerical analysis of morphological characters of cotton bollworm (CBW) Helicoverpa armigera and its sibling species indicated that there were evident variations among individuals in the same CBW population, but there were neither obvious geographic differentiations, nor stable varia-tions of geographic characteristics among different geographic populations. Nevertheless, there were significant correlations between the latitudes of CBW populations and their cucullus length, cucullus width, valve length/valve width, and valve length/cucullus width (_r=-0.612* ,-0.699*,0.693* and 0.691* , respectively). Even though,it should still be regarded that all the CBW populations in China belong to a single species, rather than different geographical species, by comparisons of CBW with orientaltobacco budworm and corn earworm which were obviously different from the former due to the morphological interruption.

Key words: Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner), geographic populations, numerical analysis