Cutworm

A caterpillar which at night eats off young plants of cabbage, corn, etc., usually at the ground. Some kinds ascend fruit trees and eat off the flower buds. During the day, they conceal themselves in the earth. The common cutworms are the larvae of various species of Agrotis and related genera of noctuid moths.

North American moth whose larvae feed on young plant stems cutting them off at the ground