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Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is paraphyletic with respect to butterflies and neither subordinate taxon is used in modern classifications. Moths make up the vast majority of the order. There are approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of which have yet to be described. Most species of moth are nocturnal, although there are also crepuscular and diurnal species.
Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also involves an active human management role. It can be an important component of integrated pest management (IPM) programs.
Helicoverpa zea, commonly known as the corn earworm, is a species in the family Noctuidae. The larva of the moth Helicoverpa zea is a major agricultural pest. Since it is polyphagous during the larval stage, the species has been given many different common names, including the cotton bollworm and the tomato fruitworm. It also consumes a wide variety of other crops.
The Asian long-horned beetle, also known as the starry sky, sky beetle, or ALB, is native to the Korean Peninsula, northern and southern China, and disputably in northern Japan. This species has now been accidentally introduced into the eastern United States, where it was first discovered in 1996, as well as Canada, and several countries in Europe, including Austria, France, Germany, Italy and UK.
The emerald ash borer, also known by the acronym EAB, is a green buprestid or jewel beetle native to north-eastern Asia that feeds on ash species. Females lay eggs in bark crevices on ash trees, and larvae feed underneath the bark of ash trees to emerge as adults in one to two years. In its native range, it is typically found at low densities and does not cause significant damage to trees native to the area. Outside its native range, it is an invasive species and is highly destructive to ash trees native to Europe and North America. Before it was found in North America, very little was known about emerald ash borer in its native range; this has resulted in much of the research on its biology being focused in North America. Local governments in North America are attempting to control it by monitoring its spread, diversifying tree species, and through the use of insecticides and biological control.
The San Jose scale is a hemipterous insect in the family Diaspididae. It is an agricultural pest as it causes damage and crop losses to many fruit crops. In 1914, Q. perniciosus became the first documented case of insecticide resistance.
The khapra beetle, also called cabinet beetle, which originated in South Asia, is one of the world's most destructive pests of grain products and seeds. It is considered one of the 100 worst invasive species in the world. Infestations are difficult to control because of the insect's ability to survive without food for long periods, its preference for dry conditions and low-moisture food, and its resistance to many insecticides. There is a federal quarantine restricting the importation of rice into the U.S. from countries with known infestations of the beetle. Khapra beetle infestation can spoil otherwise valuable trade goods and threaten significant economic losses if introduced to a new area. Handling or consuming contaminated grain and seed products can lead to health issues such as skin irritation and gastrointestinal distress.
Diaprepes abbreviatus, also known as the diaprepes root weevil, citrus root weevil and sugarcane rootstock borer weevil, is a species of weevil that is native to the Caribbean, where in Spanish it is colloquially called chichí. It has become an invasive pest in several locations in the United States.
The European corn borer, also known as the European corn worm or European high-flyer, is a moth of the family Crambidae. It is a pest of grain, particularly maize. The insect is native to Europe, originally infesting varieties of millet, including broom corn. The European corn borer was first reported in North America in 1917 in Massachusetts, but was probably introduced from Europe several years earlier. Since its initial discovery in the Americas, the insect has spread into Canada and westwards across the United States to the Rocky Mountains.
Pine and fir trees, grown purposely for use as Christmas trees, are vulnerable to a wide variety of pests, weeds and diseases. Many of the conifer species cultivated face infestations and death from such pests as the balsam woolly adelgid and other adelgids. Aphids are another common insect pest. Christmas trees are also vulnerable to fungal pathogens and their resultant illnesses such as root rot, and, in the U.S. state of California, sudden oak death. Douglas-fir trees in particular are vulnerable to infections from plant pathogens such as R. pseudotsugae.
Ostrinia is a genus of moths in the family Crambidae described by Jacob Hübner in 1825. Several of them, including the European corn borer, are agricultural pests.
A pheromone trap is a type of insect trap that uses pheromones to lure insects. Sex pheromones and aggregating pheromones are the most common types used. A pheromone-impregnated lure is encased in a conventional trap such as a bottle trap, Delta trap, water-pan trap, or funnel trap. Pheromone traps are used both to count insect populations by sampling, and to trap pests such as clothes moths to destroy them.
The southwestern corn borer, Diatraea grandiosella, is a moth belonging to the sub-order Heterocera. Like most moths, The southwestern corn borer undergoes complete metamorphosis developing as an egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa and adult. It is capable of entering diapause in its larva stage and under the conditions of a precise photoperiod. Growth and development are regulated by juvenile hormones. The southwestern corn borer has an extensive range. It occurs in Mexico and in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
The gypsy moth, also known as the spongy moth, was introduced in 1868 into the United States by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot, a French scientist living in Medford, Massachusetts. Because native silk-spinning caterpillars were susceptible to disease, Trouvelot imported the species in order to breed a more resistant hybrid species. Some of the moths escaped, found suitable habitat, and began breeding. The gypsy moth is now a major pest of hardwood trees in the Eastern United States.
Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) is one of six operational program units within the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The PPQ works to safeguard agriculture and natural resources in the U.S. against the entry, establishment, and spread of animal and plant pests, and noxious weeds in order to help ensure the protection of native flora and an abundant, high-quality, and varied food supply.
Species which are not native to a forest ecosystem can act as an agent of disturbance, changing forest dynamics as they invade and spread. Invasive insects and pathogens (diseases) are introduced to the United States through international trade, and spread through means of natural and human-dispersal. Invasive insects and pathogens are a serious threat to many forests in the United States and have decimated populations of several tree species, including American chestnut, American elm, eastern hemlock, whitebark pine, and the native ash species. The loss of these tree species is typically rapid with both short and long-term impacts to the forest ecosystem.
Diocalandra frumenti, commonly known as the palm weevil borer, the lesser coconut weevil, or four-spotted coconut weevil, is a species of weevil in the family Curculionidae. It occurs in Africa, Southern Asia and Northern Australia, and is a pest of coconut and other palm trees.
Frank Hurlbut Chittenden was an American coleopterist and economic entomologist who worked in the US Department of Entomology.
References
- ↑ New International Encyclopedia
- ↑ New International Encyclopedia
- ↑ Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie; Joy Dorothy Harvey (2000). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z. Taylor & Francis. p. 1148. ISBN 978-0-415-92040-7 . Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ↑ "Grace Sandhouse Papers". Record Unit 7456. Smithsonian Institution Archives . Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ↑ Weld, Lewis Hart at Smithsonian Institution Archives
