Rapidly increasing levels of light pollution subject nocturnal organisms to major alterations of their habitat, the ecological consequences of which are largely unknown. Moths are well-known to be attracted to light at night, but effects of light on other aspects of moth ecology, such as larval development and life-history, remain unknown. Such effects may have important consequences for fitnes...

Two new species of plume moths from Atacama Desert, Chile, are described: Lioptilodes karinupponeni Ustjuzhanin, Kovtunovich & Pototski sp. nov. and Hellinsia haverineni

Sterile insect release (SIR) is used to suppress insect pest populations in agro-ecosystems, but its success hinges on the performance of the released insects and prevailing environmental conditions. For example, low temperatures dramatically reduce SIR efficacy in cooler conditions. Here, we report on the costs and benefits of thermal acclimation for laboratory and field responses of codling m...

Season-long Þeld studies were conducted in Washington apple orchards that compared the following: (1) twice per week releases of partially sterile codling moths, Cydia pomonella (L.), treated with either 100 or 250 Gy, and (2) combinations of mating disruption plus the release of partially sterile (100 Gy) codling moths, to control wild codling moth populations. No signiÞcant differences in the...

Tympanal sound receptors in moths evolved in response to selective pressures provided by echolocating insectivorous bats. The presence of these ultrasound detectors also set the stage for the later evolution of ultrasonic courtship signals in the tympanate moth families. Male moths have repeatedly exploited the bat-detection mechanisms in females for the purpose of finding, identifying and obta...

All animals have to cope with sensory conflicts arising from simultaneous input of incongruent data to different sensory modalities. Nocturnal activity in moths includes mate-finding behaviour by odour detection and bat predator avoidance by acoustic detection. We studied male moths that were simultaneously exposed to female sex pheromones indicating the presence of a potential mate, and artifi...

Fuel use varies widely among insects; however, the potential determinants of variation in fuel use have not been explored experimentally. This study examines whether fuel use during tethered flight depends upon feeding status in the nectarivorous hawkmoth Amphion floridensis. Fuel use in this study is characterized by the respiratory quotient, measured at intervals during a flight using modifie...

The impact of three different doses of botanical insecticide derived from the syringa tree, Melia azedarach and the neem tree, Azadirachta indica was tested on the behaviour of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus). Both botanical insecticides had a significant impact on larval behaviour. At higher doses the extracts showed feeding deterrent activity, with larvae preferring the u...

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were collected from damaged and intact mulberry leaves (Morus alba L., Moraceae) and from Hyphantria cunea larvae by headspace absorption with Super Q columns. We identified their constituents using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and evaluated the responses of male H. cunea antennae to the compounds using gas chromatography-flame ionization detection cou...

A molecular assay for diagnosis of light brown apple moth, Epiphyas postvittana (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), in North America is reported. The assay multiplexes two TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) probe systems that are designed to target DNA segments of the internal transcribed spacer region 2 (ITS2) and 18S rRNA gene. The RT-PCR probe designed for the 18S target re...