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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Wapato, Washington » Temperate Tree Fruit and Vegetable Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #195047
Title: MOTHS TRAPPED IN ALASKA WITH FEEDING ATTRACTANT LURES AND THE SEASONAL FLIGHT PATTERNS OF POTENTIAL AGRICULTURAL PESTS

Author
item Landolt, Peter
item Pantoja, Alberto
item Hagerty, Aaron
item CRABO, LARS - WA STATE UNIVERSITY
item Green, Daryl

Submitted to: The Canadian Entomologist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/6/2006
Publication Date: 3/1/2007
Citation: Landolt, P.J., Pantoja, A., Hagerty, A.M., Crabo, L., Green, D.L. 2007. Moths trapped in Alaska with feeding attractant lures and the seasonal flight patterns of potential agricultural pests. The Canadian Entomologist 139:278-291.

Interpretive Summary: New methods and approaches are needed to control insect pests of vegetable crops. Monitoring with chemical attractants is used as a means of determining the presence of an insect pest and the necessity of control measures. Researchers at the USDA-ARS laboratory in Wapato, Washington, in collaboration with ARS scientists at Fairbanks are using novel feeding attractants to develop and apply general information on the presence and seasonality of moth pests of crops. They determined that two types of feeding attractants lure different types of moths, documented the presence of a large number of species of moths, and determined the seasonal patterns of flight for these moths. This information will help focus work to identify current and potential pests of vegetable crops in three agricultural areas of Alaska, and provides chemical lures that are effective against both sexes of a number of cutworms.

Technical Abstract: Traps baited with two types of chemical feeding attractants yielded 97 species of macrolepidoptera at 3 areas in Alaska (Fairbanks, Delta Junction, and Palmer). These were 16 geometrid, 1 thyatirid, and 76 noctuid moth species, and 4 species of nymphalid butterflies. Potential crop pests trapped included Apamea devastator (Brace) (glassy cutworm), Xestia c-nigrum L. (spotted cutworm), Xestia smithii (Snellen), Euxoa ochrogaster (Guenee) (red-backed cutworm), and Discestra trifolii (Hufnagel) (clover cutworm). The clover cutworm was captured early in the season (May into June) while Xestia smithii, glassy cutworm, spotted cutworm, and the red-backed cutworm were captured in traps in mid to late summer. Many species and greater numbers of moths were captured in traps baited with acetic acid and 3-methyl-1-butanol, compared to traps baited with a multi-component floral-based lure (phenylacetaldehyde, methyl salicylate, methyl-2-methoxy benzoate, and ß-myrcene). However, most of the geometer moths captured (12 of 16 species) were in floral lure traps, while one species of Hadeninae (Noctuidae) and both species of Plusiinae (Noctuidae) were trapped exclusively in floral lure traps. The one Thyatirid, both Catacolinae noctuid species, and most Amphipyrinae, Cuculliinae, Hadeninae, and Noctuinae noctuid species were captured in traps baited with acetic acid and 3-methyl-1-butanol. In addition, large numbers of bumblebees were captured in traps baited with the floral lure, while large numbers of yellowjackets were captured in traps baited with acetic acid and 3-methyl-1-butanol.