To explore the sympatric speciation of four dominant shootboring noctuids, Sapporia repetita, Oligia vulgaris, Apamea apameoides and Kumasia kumaso, the oviposition behaviors of the four hootboring noctuids were observed in lab conditions using Phyllostachys heteroclada, Roegneria kamoji and Carex breviculmis as host plants. The results showed that the host preference in oviposition was significantly different among the four hootboring noctuids (P<0.01). A. apameoides and O. vulgaris only choose R. kamoji to lay eggs. All four noctuids selected their oviposition sites on different parts of the same plant, with most sites on the leaf surface, sheath and root of R. kamoji. A. apameoides and O. vulgaris spawned more eggs than the other two noctuids. Meanwhile, the oviposition time of the four noctuids was different. Kumasia kumaso was the ovipositionearliest moth and its spawning process lasted for 10 days. The oviposition time for the other three species was in sequence of S. repetita > O. vulgaris > A. apameoides. The results indicated that the four shootboring noctuids used temporal and spatial isolation mechanisms to avoid fierce interspecific competition for the development of their offsprings.