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.
The Lymantriinae are a subfamily of moths of the family Erebidae. The taxon was erected by George Hampson in 1893.
The brown-tail moth is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is native to Europe, neighboring countries in Asia, and the north coast of Africa. Descriptions of outbreaks, i.e., large population increases of several years duration, have been reported as far back as the 1500s. The life cycle of the moth is atypical, in that it spends approximately nine months as larvae (caterpillars), leaving about one month each for pupae, imagos and eggs. Larvae (caterpillars) are covered in hairs. Two red spots on the back, toward the tail, distinguish these species from other similarly hairy moth larvae. The winged adults have white wings and a hairy white body with a tuft of brown hair at the tip of the abdomen. Females lay one egg cluster, usually on the underside of a leaf of a host plant. The species is polyphagous, meaning that it feeds on many different species of trees, including pear, apple, maple and oak.
Orgyia leucostigma, the white-marked tussock moth, is a moth in the family Erebidae. The species was first described by James Edward Smith in 1797. The caterpillar is very common especially in late summer in eastern North America, extending as far west as Texas, California, and Alberta.
Calosoma sycophanta, the forest caterpillar hunter, is a species of ground beetle belonging to the family Carabidae.
Glyptapanteles is a genus of endoparasitoid wasps found in all continents, except Antarctica. The larvae of Glyptapanteles species are able to manipulate their hosts into serving as bodyguards.
Tachina fera is a species of fly in the genus Tachina of the family Tachinidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1761.
Lymantria mathura, the rosy gypsy moth, is a species of moth of the family Erebidae found in the Russian Far East, Nepal, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, northern India and China. The species was first described by Frederic Moore in 1866.
The spongy moth, formerly known as the gypsy 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.
Compsilura concinnata is a parasitoid native to Europe that was introduced to North America in 1906 to control the population of an exotic forest, univoltine, spongy moth named Lymantria dispar. It is an endoparasitoid of larvae and lives with its host for most of its life. Eventually the parasitoid ends up killing the host and occasionally eating it. It attacks over 200 host species, mainly insects from the Orders: Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. Since this parasite has the ability to attack many different types of hosts, the organism has spilled over from the intended forest systems into other areas, like agricultural fields, affecting cabbage pests including the cabbage looper (Trichoplusia); the cabbage worm ; and even other invasive species such as the brown-tail moth. However, it also attacks native, non-pest insects such as the Cecropia moth and American moon moth.
Lymantria dispar asiatica, the LDA moth or Asian spongy moth, also known as the Asian gypsy moth, is a moth in the family Erebidae of Eurasian origin. It is similar to Lymantria dispar dispar in appearance, but adult females can fly. It is classified as a pest and is host to over 500 species of trees, shrubs and plants.
Lymantria dispar dispar, commonly known as the gypsy moth, European gypsy moth, LDD moth, or North American gypsy moth or spongy moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. It has a native range that extends over Europe and parts of Africa, and is an invasive species in North America.
Lymantria dispar japonica, also known as the Japanese gypsy moth, is a moth in the family Erebidae of Eurasian origin.
Lymantria dispar multicapsid nuclear polyhedrosis virus or LdMNPV is a viral infection in spongy moths that causes infected larvae to die and disintegrate. Infected larvae climb to the top of a tree and die. The larvae then melt or disintegrate, falling onto the foliage below, where they infect more larvae.
Entomophaga maimaiga is a Japanese fungus which has shown striking success in managing spongy moth populations in North America.
Cotesia is a genus of braconid wasps first described by Peter Cameron in 1891. Some species parasitize caterpillars of species considered pests, and are used as biocontrol agents. Cotesia congregata parasitizes the tomato and the tobacco hornworms. C. glomerata and C. rubecula feed on the cabbage white and other white butterfly caterpillars. C. gonopterygis and C. risilis are host-specific and parasitize the common brimstone.
John Douglas Tothill DSc, CMG, was an English-born entomologist, agriculturalist and civil servant, whose career took him to Canada, Fiji, Uganda and the Sudan. He was the son of Walter Tothill and Frances L. Williams.
Meteorinae is a subfamily of braconid parasitoid wasps; however, since 2015, most scientists have treated this clade as the Tribe Meteorini in Euphorinae. Several species have been used in biological control programs. The name for this group comes from the pupal stage, which, in species attacking Lepidopteran hosts, hangs suspended from a long thread of silk.
Ann E. Hajek is an American entomologist with a focus in insect-microbe interactions. She was a professor of entomology at Cornell University from 1994 to 2024.
Anastatus bifasciatus is a species of parasitoid wasp in the family Eupelmidae. It is native to Europe, and has been harnessed for augmentative biological control against the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys. The study by Haye et al., 2015 especially demonstrates its effectiveness against the European BMSB invasion. It has also been considered as a biological control agent against spongy moth eggs in North America.
