Moths of the subfamily Heliothinae are suitable models for comparative studies of plant odour information encoded by the olfactory system. Here we identify and functionally classify types of olfactory receptor neurons by means of electrophysiological recordings from single receptor neurons linked to gas chromatography and to mass spectrometry. The molecular receptive ranges of 14 types in the two polyphagous species Heliothis virescens and Helicoverpa armigera are presented. The receptor neurons are characterized by a narrow tuning, showing the best response to one primary odorant and weak responses to a few chemically related compounds. The most frequently occurring of the 14 types constituted the receptor neurons tuned to (+)-linalool, the enantioselectivity of which was shown by testing two samples with opposite enantiomeric ratios. These neurons, also responding to dihydrolinalool, were found to be functionally similar in the two related species. The primary odorants for 10 other receptor neuron types were identified as (3Z)-hexenyl acetate, (+)-3-carene, trans-pinocarveol, trans-verbenol, vinylbenzaldehyde, 2-phenylethanol, methyl benzoate, alpha-caryophyllene and caryophyllene oxide, respectively. Most odorants were present in several host and non-host plant species, often in trace amounts. The specificity as well as the co-localization of particular neuron types so far recorded in both species showed similarities of the olfactory systems receiving plant odour information in these two species of heliothine moths.