Performance of Irradiated Teia anartoides (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) in Urban Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Knowledge of host chemical volatiles has tremendously informed the fundamental understanding of plant-insect interactions as well as revealed opportunities for the creative use of plant-derived chemicals in the food and flavor industries and in insect pest management. This study was undertaken to assess the host searching behaviors of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) females in relation to their mating status and conspecific larval herbivory. This involved measurement of odor-modulated upwind flight of female moths in a wind tunnel. Subsequently, the host location, recognition and acceptance behaviors of gravid females in relation to either intact uninfested or larvae-infested cabbage, Brassica oleracea L. (capitata group; Brassicales: Brassicaceae) hosts were compared in no-choice and dual-choice tests. Mating status had little effect on the female responses to host odor and flight duration. However, female moths were significantly more attracted to conspecific larvae-infested cabbage plants and had significantly shorter flights than in relation to intact uninfested cabbage hosts. Behavioral responses of gravid females were consistent when offered intact and larvae-infested cabbage hosts in both no-choice and choice tests in observation cages. Antennal rotation and ovipositor probing were found to be important in host searching and recognition, respectively, before a host was accepted for egg laying. Female moths oviposited significantly more eggs on larvae-infested cabbage than on intact uninfested cabbage and in particular more on leaves than on other parts of the cabbage plant. These results indicate the potential of developing a brassica host-derived kairomone attractant as a useful monitoring tool for female diamondback moths in area-wide integrated pest management programs that have a sterile insect technique (SIT) component.

Improved quality management to enhance the efficacy of the sterile insect technique for lepidopteran pests

“…Spatial analysis of geo‐referenced trap data, together with other data layers (e.g. crop damage and weather) in a Geographical Information System (GIS) would greatly enhance our understanding of insect population dynamics in the field (Cox and Vreysen 2005), including quality‐related dispersal of sterile insects (Suckling et al. 2005).…”

“…These include operational programmes for containment (pink bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (USA)), suppression [codling moth Cydia pomonella (L.) (Canada) and false codling moth Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick) (South Africa)], or eradication [cactus moth Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) (USA, Mexico), painted apple moth Teia anartoides Walker (New Zealand)] (see Bloem and Bloem 2000; (NCCA) National Cotton Council of America 2004; Addison and Henrico 2005; Bloem et al. 2005, 2007a; Suckling et al. 2005; Carpenter et al.…”

Evidence of active or passive downwind dispersal in mark–release–recapture of moths

“…Experiments were conducted in Auckland between February and May 2003 with an average of 1 452 traps to cover the study area (Suckling et al., 2005a). Delta traps baited with virgin female moths were deployed, as the main component of the synthetic pheromone is instable (El‐Sayed et al., 2005).…”

“…Pheromone baited traps are widely used for biosecurity surveillance to detect new incursions of unwanted organisms, and to delimit their ranges (Augustin et al., 2004; Suckling et al., 2005a,b; Bogich et al., 2008; Liebhold & Tobin, 2008). They have been used for several decades in pest management for monitoring to alert land managers to the presence of a pest in time and space, providing insight into phenology as well as geographic distribution (Suckling et al., 2005b).…”

Modeling the Sterile Insect Technique for Suppression of Light Brown Apple Moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

“…Wind tunnel assessment of changes in moth flight ability after irradiation has been done on species in 2 families of Lepidoptera (Suckling et al 2005;Suckling et al 2007a). The wind tunnel system, which has been widely used in pheromone research (Baker & Vickers 1997), looks promising for measuring insect quality in irradiated Lepidoptera, but is not suitable for routine use.…”