The pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella; Spanish: lagarta rosada) is an insect known for being a pest in cotton farming. The adult is a small, thin, gray moth with fringed wings. The larva is a dull white caterpillar with eight pairs of legs[1] with conspicuous pink banding along its dorsum. The larva reaches one half inch in length.
The female moth lays eggs in a cotton boll, and when the larvae emerge from the eggs, they inflict damage through feeding. They chew through the cotton lint to feed on the seeds. Since cotton is used for both fiber and seed oil, the damage is twofold. Their disruption of the protective tissue around the boll is a portal of entry for other insects and fungi.
The pink bollworm is native to Asia, but has become an invasive species in most of the world's cotton-growing regions. It reached the cotton belt in the southern United States by the 1920s. It was a major pest in the cotton fields of the southern California deserts. The USDA announced in 2018[2] that it had been eradicated from the continental United States, through the synergistic combination of using transgenicBt cotton and releasing sterile males.[3]
In parts of India, the pink bollworm is now resistant to first generation transgenic Bt cotton (Bollgard cotton) that expresses a single Bt gene (Cry1Ac).[4]Monsanto has admitted that this variety is ineffective against the pink bollworm pest in parts of Gujarat, India.[5] Infestation on susceptible cotton is generally controlled with insecticides. Once a crop has been harvested, the field is plowed under as soon as possible to stop the life cycle of the new generation of pink bollworm. Unharvested bolls harbor the larvae, so these are destroyed. The plants are plowed into the earth and the fields are irrigated liberally to drown out remaining pests. Some farmers burn the stubble after harvest. Surviving bollworms will overwinter in the field and re-infest the following season. Populations of bollworms are also controlled with mating disruption, chemicals, and releases of sterile males which mate with the females but fail to fertilize their eggs.
Bacillus thuringiensis is a gram-positive, soil-dwelling bacterium, the most commonly used biological pesticide worldwide. B. thuringiensis also occurs naturally in the gut of caterpillars of various types of moths and butterflies, as well on leaf surfaces, aquatic environments, animal feces, insect-rich environments, and flour mills and grain-storage facilities. It has also been observed to parasitize other moths such as Cadra calidella—in laboratory experiments working with C. calidella, many of the moths were diseased due to this parasite.
Genetically modified maize (corn) is a genetically modified crop. Specific maize strains have been genetically engineered to express agriculturally-desirable traits, including resistance to pests and to herbicides. Maize strains with both traits are now in use in multiple countries. GM maize has also caused controversy with respect to possible health effects, impact on other insects and impact on other plants via gene flow. One strain, called Starlink, was approved only for animal feed in the US but was found in food, leading to a series of recalls starting in 2000.
The boll weevil is a beetle that feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central Mexico, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growing areas by the 1920s, devastating the industry and the people working in the American South. During the late 20th century, it became a serious pest in South America as well. Since 1978, the Boll Weevil Eradication Program in the U.S. allowed full-scale cultivation to resume in many regions.
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.
Cotton bollworms are a significant pest of cotton. "A major pest in hot countries of irrigated crops. Enters into a summer diapause when irrigated crops are not present and the soil and air temperatures are high. When the end of the dry season comes, the rain cools the soil and pupae come out of diapause."
The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a method of biological insect control, whereby overwhelming numbers of sterile insects are released into the wild. The released insects are preferably male, as this is more cost-effective and the females may in some situations cause damage by laying eggs in the crop, or, in the case of mosquitoes, taking blood from humans. The sterile males compete with fertile males to mate with the females. Females that mate with a sterile male produce no offspring, thus reducing the next generation's population. Sterile insects are not self-replicating and, therefore, cannot become established in the environment. Repeated release of sterile males over low population densities can further reduce and in cases of isolation eliminate pest populations, although cost-effective control with dense target populations is subjected to population suppression prior to the release of the sterile males.
Bollworm is the common term for a moth larva that attacks the fruiting bodies of certain crops, especially cotton. The most common moths known as bollworms are:
Bt cotton is a genetically modified pest resistant plant cotton variety that produces an insecticide to combat bollworm.
Helicoverpa armigera is a species of Lepidoptera in the family Noctuidae. It is known as the cotton bollworm, corn earworm, Old World (African) bollworm, or scarce bordered straw. The larvae feed on a wide range of plants, including many important cultivated crops. It is a major pest in cotton and one of the most polyphagous and cosmopolitan pest species. It should not be confused with the similarly named larva of the related species Helicoverpa zea.
Maurice James Lukefahr, a pioneer researcher in the fields of host plant resistance and environmental control of cotton insect pests, died in Elsa, Texas in 2002.
The Bureau of Entomology was a unit within the Federal government of the United States from 1894 to 1934. It developed from a section of the Department of Agriculture which had been working on entomological researches and allied issues relating to insects. In 1934 it was merged with the Bureau of Plant Quarantine to form the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. A later merger with the Bureau of Animal Industry created the Agricultural Research Service in 1953.
The Boll Weevil Eradication Program is a program sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which has sought to eradicate the boll weevil in the cotton-growing areas of the United States. It's one of the world's most successful implementations of integrated pest management. The program has enabled cotton farmers to reduce their use of pesticides by between 40-100%, and increase their yields by at least 10%, since its inception in the 1970s. By the autumn of 2009, eradication was finished in all US cotton regions with the exception of less than one million acres still under treatment in Texas.
Pectinophora is a genus of moths in the family Gelechiidae. Perhaps the best known species is the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders). P. gossypiella is one of the world's most destructive insect pests that causes terrible damage to cotton bolls. The larvae (caterpillars) bore into the bolls, causing them to fall or the blossoms to fail to open. The larvae tunnel through the immature lint and into the seeds eating them. As a result the lint may be unpickable or so stunted as to greatly lower the yield and grade. The yield of oil from the seeds is greatly reduced. Double seeds are found when the cotton is gained, two partly eaten seeds being fastened together.
SmartStax is a brand of genetically modified seed made through a collaboration between Monsanto Company and Dow Chemical Company. It takes advantage of multiple modes of insect protection and herbicide tolerance. SmartStax takes advantage of Yieldgard VT Triple (Monsanto), Herculex Xtra (Dow), RoundUp Ready 2 (Monsanto), and Liberty Link (Dow). The traits included protect against above-ground insects, below-ground insects, and provide broad herbicide tolerance. It is currently available for corn, but cotton, soybean, and specialty crop variations are to be released. Previously, the most genes artificially added to a single plant was three, but Smartstax includes eight. Smartstax also incorporates Monsanto's Acceleron Seed Treatment System which protects against insects at the earliest stages of development. Smartstax is sold under the Genuity (Monsanto) and Mycogen (Dow) brands.
A genetically modified (GM) insect is an insect that has been genetically modified, either through mutagenesis, or more precise processes of transgenesis, or cisgenesis. Motivations for using GM insects include biological research purposes and genetic pest management. Genetic pest management capitalizes on recent advances in biotechnology and the growing repertoire of sequenced genomes in order to control pest populations, including insects. Insect genomes can be found in genetic databases such as NCBI, and databases more specific to insects such as FlyBase, VectorBase, and BeetleBase. There is an ongoing initiative started in 2011 to sequence the genomes of 5,000 insects and other arthropods called the i5k. Some Lepidoptera have been genetically modified in nature by the wasp bracovirus.
Inherited sterility in insects is induced by substerilizing doses of ionizing radiation. When partially sterile males mate with wild females, the radiation-induced deleterious effects are inherited by the F1 generation. As a result, egg hatch is reduced and the resulting offspring are both highly sterile and predominately male. Compared with the high radiation required to achieve full sterility in Lepidoptera, the lower dose of radiation used to induce F1 sterility increases the quality and competitiveness of the released insects as measured by improved dispersal after release, increased mating ability, and superior sperm competition.
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.
Diparopsis castanea is the type species of the genus Diparopsis: moths in the family Noctuidae; no subspecies are listed in the Catalogue of Life. This is known as the red bollworm, which is a significant pest of cotton crops in Eastern and Central-Southern Africa.
Earias fabia, called the cotton spotted bollworm as a larva, is a moth of the family Nolidae. The species was first described by Caspar Stoll in 1781. It is sometimes included in the species Earias vittella.
Acanthaspis quinquespinosa is a species of assassin bug found in India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Tibet. It is a predator, and both nymphs and adults feed on termites, beetles, caterpillars and other insect prey.
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Caterpillar
Illustrated Life Cycle
