The subject invention concerns materials and methods useful in the control of non-mammalian pests and, particularly, plant pests. In a specific embodiment, the subject invention provides new Bacillus thuringiensis toxins useful for the control of lepidopterans. The subject invention further provides nucleotide sequences which encode the toxins of the subject invention. The nucleotide sequences of the subject invention can be used to transform hosts, such as plants, to express the pesticidal toxins of the subject invention. The subject invention further concerns novel nucleotide primers for the identification of genes encoding toxins active against pests. The primers are useful in PCR techniques to produce gene fragments which are characteristic of genes encoding these toxins. The primers are also useful as nucleotide probes to detect the toxin-encoding genes.