THE AGE OF FEMALE EUROPEAN CORN BORER MOTHS, OSTRINIA NUBILALIS (LEPIDOPTERA: PYRALIDAE), IN THE FIELD AND TESTS OF ITS USE IN FORECASTING DAMAGE TO GREEN PEPPERS

1982 ◽  
Vol 114 (9) ◽  
pp. 769-774
Author(s):  
W. M. Elliott ◽  
J. D. Richardson ◽  
J. Founk

AbstractThe mean post-mating age of mated female moths of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner), from light traps varied from 3.4 to 5.2 days during the June–September flight period at Harrow, Ontario, in a manner consistent with assignment of moths to 3 generations per year. At the beginning of the first generation the mean age was 3.66 days and rose to 5.21 before flights ceased. At the beginning of the second generation the mean age was 3.39 days and rose to 4.47 days. A third generation could be detected in early September by a significant drop in age and an increase in virgin females. The average age of mated females was negatively correlated with the proportion of virgin females in the same week (r = −0.648, P = 0.02), indicating that about 40% of the variance in age of mated females was associated with emergence of new recruits to the population. Females collected with a sweep net from their day time resting places in weeds were either the same age or older than those from the light trap. The mean age of moths from light traps was found to be not meaningful when it was tested as a factor in forecasting damage caused by their progeny in green peppers 3–5 weeks later.

1978 ◽  
Vol 110 (5) ◽  
pp. 487-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.M. Elliott ◽  
R.J. McClanahan ◽  
J. Founk

AbstractThe formation of a yellow band inside the stalk of each ovariole was a good indicator that a female European corn borer had laid eggs. The absence of these bands was less reliable as an indicator that no eggs had been laid, probably due to the time taken for the bands to form. The numbers of moths accumulating in a light trap over a week at Harrow, Ontario, and the numbers of females estimated to have laid eggs correlated significantly with the numbers of larvae developing in nearby green pepper plots 3, 4, and 5 weeks later during second generation flights. This enabled linear equations for forecasting pepper damage to be developed, in which the dissection data was more useful than the total moth catch alone.


1959 ◽  
Vol 91 (12) ◽  
pp. 798-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Mutchmor

In southwestern Ontario the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hbn.), produces two flights annually. The first flight, beginning in June, consists of moths from larvae that have overwintered. The midsummer, or second, flight begins late in July or early in August, and its moths are the progeny of the first flight. Until about 20 years ago the borer produced only one annual flight and was thought to be univoltine. The change in the seasonal history of the borer in Ontario was described by Wressell (1953) and Miller (1956). The literature describing similar changes in parts of the United States has been reviewed by Lees (1955) and Everett et al. (1958). Wressell (1953) summarized light trap collection data of moth flights in the Chatham, Ontario, area for the years 1932 to 1951. The summary includes the percentage of the moths that were from the midsummer flight, and it is evident that the size of this flight varies greatly from year to year. Aside from its intrinsic interest, it would be of some economic value to know what governs the size of the midsummer flight. This is a report of studies undertaken to examine the case, and to relate the findings to the larger problem of why the borer now produces a second flight where formerly it produced only one.


1979 ◽  
Vol 111 (12) ◽  
pp. 1325-1335 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. Elliott ◽  
V. A. Dirks

AbstractThe spermatophores in mated female European corn borers, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner), were shown to lose volume (depletion), change colour, and retract their spiral stalks over a period of about 7 days in such a way that postmating age could be estimated from their appearance. Colour changes and stalk retraction occurred more slowly in females that laid fertile eggs than in those that did not, but depletion occurred at the same rate. The average postmating age was estimated as 5.2, 6.3, 3.9, and 2.6 days for small light trap catches of first generation females in 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977 and 4.4, 3.9, and 3.2 days for larger catches of second generation females in 1974, 1975, and 1977. Catches did not show decreasing numbers in successive age groups but tended to show modal values at < 1 day and at 4–6 days with only 1% living > 7 days. Redistribution of the moths from the date of capture back to the date of mating tended to give a unimodal curve of numbers on time in the 1975 second generation but not in 1974 or 1977. The unimodal curve of redistributed moths in 1975 was significantly different from a normal distribution. The redistribution showed that 58% of the moths mated within the heat unit interval when the second generation was expected to emerge, whereas only 38% of the actual catches occurred in this interval. Redistribution also showed that mating probably occurred even on cold nights when few moths were trapped, and conversely that on some warm nights with large catches most of the moths had mated on earlier nights.


2005 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.G. Stewart

The effects of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis [Lepidoptera: Pyralidae], on yield of 'Russet Burbank' potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) was investigated at two sites in Prince-Edward-Island in 1989 and 1990. At Summerside, the mean number of larvae per stalk did not exceed 0.19 in either year, and no significant differences in yield were found between untreated plots (check) and plots protected with Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (B.t.k.). At Tryon in 1989, a seasonal average of 1.16 larvae per stalk reduced total and marketable yields by 7.5% and 8.8%, respectively, compared to plots protected with B.t.k. A similar but not statistically significant trend was observed in 1990 at this site. The higher degree of damage by the European corn borer to potatoes grown on P.E.I., relative to crops grown in more southernly locations, may be due to the longer interval of attack. On P.E.I., the action threshold for the European corn borer on potatoes appears to be between 0.11 and 0.30 egg masses per stalk.


1977 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. Elliott

AbstractEuropean corn borer moths were caught in an ultraviolet light trap from early June to late October at Harrow, Ont. Two conspicuous peaks of light trap catches occurred each year, corresponding to two generations, but a third generation was deduced from three peaks of occurrence of virgin females. The number of moths which could be caught with nets in the day time correlated with the light trap catch of the previous night (r = 0.7). Most of the moths caught in the light trap or in nets were females but males predominated in the early June, September, and October catches. The shortage of males in the second generation was shown to influence the proportion of females mating, but not the number of spermatophores per female. Most females mated once and the number of matings per female did not differ enough between years to account for differences in adult populations.


1992 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucie Royer ◽  
Jeremy N. McNeil

AbstractEuropean corn borer males have hair pencils located ventrally on the 8th sternite and these are extruded when a male approaches a calling female. The fact that (i) antennectomized females mated significantly less than both intact controls and individuals subjected to other forms of surgery, and (ii) males with hair pencils removed had a significantly lower mating success than control males, suggests that a male pheromone is involved in the mating system of the European corn borer.


1997 ◽  
Vol 200 (7) ◽  
pp. 1073-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Anton ◽  
C Löfstedt ◽  
B S Hansson

Antennal lobe neurones were investigated in the pyralid moth Ostrinia nubilalis using intracellular recording and staining techniques. Response characteristics of antennal lobe neurones from males in the so-called E and Z strains, in F1 hybrids and in parental backcrosses were studied. The antennal lobe of a male O. nubilalis comprises approximately 30 ordinary glomeruli and three enlarged glomeruli making up the macroglomerular complex (MGC). Receptor neurones enter the antennal lobe via the antennal nerve and arborize in single glomeruli. Intracellularly stained, pheromone-responding projection neurones in both parental strains arborized in different glomeruli within the MGC, irrespective of their response characteristics. Neurones were grouped according to their specificity to single pheromone components and to pheromone blends. Component-specific, blend-specific and generalist neurones were found. Specificity only occurred at low stimulus concentrations and disappeared as concentrations increased. Although all neuronal types were present in both pheromone strains and crossings, differences in abundance and sensitivity were found. In the parental strains, neurones responding to the major pheromone component and to the respective strain-specific blend were more abundant than neurones responding to the minor component and the blend produced by the other strain. Neurones investigated in ZxE hybrids responded similarly to those of E-strain males, whereas neurones in EZxZ paternal backcrosses responded similarly to those of Z males. In the hybrids and paternal backcrosses, hybrid-blend-specific neurones were present that were not found in parental-strain males.


1993 ◽  
Vol 125 (6) ◽  
pp. 1137-1139 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Hutchison

The European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis Hübner, continues to be a consistent economic pest of field and sweet corn (Zea mays L.) in the upper midwestem United States. In Minnesota alone, O. nubilalis control costs and losses to sweet corn (ca. 50 630 ha) exceed $5,000,000 annually (Noetzel et al. 1985). Despite recent efforts to implement alternatives (Lewis and Bing 1991; Prokrym et al. 1992; Bartels and Hutchison 1993; Bolin et al. 1993), insecticide control continues to play a central role in O. nubilalis management programs.


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