Characterization of the proteins and nucleic acid of the gypsy moth nuclear polyhedrosis virus isolated in Ithaca, N.Y. (LdNPV-IT) is presented. A total of 29 viral structural proteins were identified by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis when the virus was isolated in the absence of alkaline protease activity. Fourteen surface envelope viral proteins were identified by l...

It is necessary to distinguish new and old gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), egg masses when conducting gypsy moth population surveys. Egg masses within reach from the ground are touched to determine if they contain unhatched eggs and thus are considered new. The following 2 methods are used for egg masses not within reach: (1) visual discrimination between new and old egg masses or (2) by cal...

Azygospores (resting spores) of the fungal pathogen Entomophaga maimaiga are produced in later larval instars of the gypsy moth Lymantria dispar and normally enter constitutive dormancy. In the laboratory cadavers of recently dead larvae containing immature azygospores were placed on 1.0% water agar at 20 C for 2 wk after host death, allowing time for azygospore maturation. We found that some a...

Lymantria dispar asiatica (Vnukovskij) (Lepidoptera: Lymantridae) is one of three gypsy moth subspecies found in East Asia. Understanding the diapause and postdiapause phases of its eggs is important in characterizing its life cycle. The effects of different constant temperatures for different lengths of times on field-collected, postdiapause eggs were tested during the first year. In the secon...

Twelve insect cell lines from six species were tested for susceptibility to baculovirus infection by occlusion-derived virus (ODV) phenotype through the use of a typical endpoint assay procedure. ODV from three nucleopolyhedroviruses were prepared by alkali treatment (sodium carbonate) of occlusion bodies (OBs) and the virus preparations were titered on various cell lines. More than a four-log ...

Fire is a major disturbance factor influencing the formation and maintenance of oak (Quercus)-dominated forests of eastern North America. Fire suppression practices have resulted in declining oak dominance, and caused the loss of oak seedlings due to poor light regimes and vegetative competition. Both wildfires and prescribed fires can alter forest stand composition and influence succession. Fi...

The process of selecting certain desirable traits for plant breeding may compromise other potentially important traits, such as defences against pests; however, specific phenotypic changes occurring over the course of domestication are unknown for most domesticated plants. Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) offers a unique opportunity to study such changes: its domestication occurred recently, a...

The spongy moth (formerly known as a gypsy moth), Lymantria dispar L. (Lepidoptera: Erebidae), is polyphagous pest that defoliates various species of trees in the genera Populus, Salix, Quercus, Acer and Pinus. Egg masses Asian moths (Lymantria asiatica) were obtained from five geographically distinct locations China (Chengdu, Xifeng, Heilongjiang, Kuduer Longhua regions) carried to lab for inc...