Evaluation of pheromone-baited traps for Winter Moth, Operophtera brumata L. (Lepidoptera: Geometridae

Authors: ELKINTON, J.S. - University Of Massachusetts; LANCE, D.R. - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS); BOETTNER, G. - University Of Massachusetts; Khrimian, Ashot; LEVA, N. - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

Submitted to: Journal of Economic Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/21/2010
Publication Date: 2/1/2011
Citation: Elkinton, J., Lance, D., Boettner, G., Khrimian, A., Leva, N. 2011. Evaluation of pheromone-baited traps for Winter Moth, Operophtera brumata L. (Lepidoptera: Geometridae. Journal of Economic Entomology. 104(2):494-500.

Interpretive Summary: Insect pests cause a significant damage to crops and forest, and monitoring their populations aids greatly to reducing the pesticide use and biological control. The winter moth is an invasive species that attacks a wide variety of hardwoods and conifers. Pheromones, or chemicals that trigger a natural behavioral response in another member of the same species, are commonly used as baits for sampling inset populations. The pheromone of the winter moth is known but it also attracts closely related native species, Bruce spanworm, which is visually indistinguishable from winter moth, thus complicating analysis of pheromone-baited traps. Hence, a trapping method that is highly efficient and specific for winter moth is desirable. A chemical structurally related to winter moth pheromone can reportedly inhibit the attraction of Bruce spanworm without affecting winter moth catches. However, the trapping using both pheromone and the inhibitor has not been optimized. We conducted evaluation of different commercially available traps for catching both species with pheromone alone and also with pheromone/inhibitor mixtures. We found that certain traps work better for catching winter moth and other type of traps are preferred for Bruce spanworm. We also found that unlike the previous report, the inhibitor suppressed trapping of both species to a similar degree. We are thus doubtful that this chemical can be used to trap specifically winter moths. The results of this study are of interest to other chemists and entomologists involved in the research of potential pest control compounds, and to State and Federal agencies involved in monitoring and controlling insect pests of agriculture and forest.

Technical Abstract: We tested different pheromone-baited traps for surveying winter moth, Operophtera brumata L. populations in eastern North America. We compared male catch at Pherocon® 1C sticky traps with various large capacity traps and showed that Universal moth traps with white bottoms caught more winter moths than any other trap type. We ran the experiment on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where we caught only winter moth, and in western Massachusetts where we caught only Bruce spanworm, Operophtera bruceata, (Hulst), a congener of winter moth native to North America that utilizes the same pheromone compound and is difficult to distinguish from adult male winter moths. With Bruce spanworm, the Pherocon® 1C sticky traps caught by far the most moths. We tested an isomer of the pheromone that previous work had suggested would inhibit captures of Bruce spanworm but not winter moths. We found that the different doses and placements of the isomer suppressed captures of both species to a similar degree. We are thus doubtful that we can use the isomer to trap winter moths without also catching Bruce spanworm. Pheromone-baited survey traps will catch both species.