Potential trap crops for the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), were evaluated through a series of ovipositional preference and larval survival experiments in outdoor screenhouses in 2002 and 2003. Hosts examined as trap crops were glossy and waxy collards, Brassica oleracea L. variety acephala; Indian mustard, Brassica juncea (L.) Czern; and yellow rocket,Ba...

BACKGROUND The codling moth is one of the principal pests of apple in the world. Resistance monitoring is crucial to the effective management of resistance in codling moth. Three populations of codling moth in neonate larvae were evaluated for resistance to seven insecticides via diet bioassays, and compared with a susceptible population. In addition, apple plots were treated with labeled field...

Accurate assessment of insect pest establishment risk is needed by national plant protection organizations to negotiate international trade of horticultural commodities that can potentially carry the pests and result in inadvertent introductions in the importing countries. We used mechanistic and correlative niche models to quantify and map the global patterns of the potential for establishment...

The Australian noctuid moth, Speiredonia spectans shares its subterranean day roosts (caves and abandoned mines) with insectivorous bats, some of which prey upon it. The capacity of this moth to survive is assumed to arise from its ability to listen for the bats' echolocation calls and take evasive action; however, the auditory characteristics of this moth or any tropically distributed Australi...

We assessed the efficacy of cultivation as a potential management strategy for codling moth, Cydia pomonella L. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), and plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar Herbst (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in apple orchards. Cocooned codling moth pupae and thinning apples infested with plum curculio larvae were cultivated over in the field. Emergence, percent burial, damage to buried...

Lepidopteran insects use sex pheromones to communicate for mating. Olfactory communication and mate-finding can be prevented by permeating the atmosphere with synthetic pheromone. Pheromone-mediated mating disruption has become a commercially viable pest management technique and is used to control the codling moth, Cydia pomonella, a key insect pest of apple, on 160,000 ha worldwide. The codlin...

Multispecies interactions may have important consequences for the ecology and evolution of mutualism by changing the cost-to-benefit ratio. Here I determine whether florivorous beetles can limit moth populations and influence the costs of the mutualism between yuccas and their pollinating moths. Yucca moths actively pollinate yucca flowers, and their larvae feed on a portion of the seeds. I use...

The European grapevine moth Lobesia botrana relies on a female produced sex pheromone for long-distance mate finding. Grapevine moth males compete heavily during limited time windows for females. The aim of this study was to investigate the perception of host plant volatiles by grapevine moth males and whether such compounds elicit upwind oriented flights. We compared five host plant headspace ...

An evolutionary war is being played out between the bat, which uses ultrasonic calls to locate insect prey, and the moth, which uses microscale ears to listen for the approaching bat. While the highest known frequency of bat echolocation calls is 212 kHz, the upper limit of moth hearing is considered much lower. Here, we show that the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, is capable of hearing...