This is the first record for the subfamily Psychodinae from Ecuador and a new species belonging to genus Arisemus, A. triconnectus, is described.

Potential trap crops for the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), were evaluated through a series of ovipositional preference and larval survival experiments in outdoor screenhouses in 2002 and 2003. Hosts examined as trap crops were glossy and waxy collards, Brassica oleracea L. variety acephala; Indian mustard, Brassica juncea (L.) Czern; and yellow rocket,Ba...

BACKGROUND The codling moth is one of the principal pests of apple in the world. Resistance monitoring is crucial to the effective management of resistance in codling moth. Three populations of codling moth in neonate larvae were evaluated for resistance to seven insecticides via diet bioassays, and compared with a susceptible population. In addition, apple plots were treated with labeled field...

Accurate assessment of insect pest establishment risk is needed by national plant protection organizations to negotiate international trade of horticultural commodities that can potentially carry the pests and result in inadvertent introductions in the importing countries. We used mechanistic and correlative niche models to quantify and map the global patterns of the potential for establishment...

The Australian noctuid moth, Speiredonia spectans shares its subterranean day roosts (caves and abandoned mines) with insectivorous bats, some of which prey upon it. The capacity of this moth to survive is assumed to arise from its ability to listen for the bats' echolocation calls and take evasive action; however, the auditory characteristics of this moth or any tropically distributed Australi...

We assessed the efficacy of cultivation as a potential management strategy for codling moth, Cydia pomonella L. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), and plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar Herbst (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in apple orchards. Cocooned codling moth pupae and thinning apples infested with plum curculio larvae were cultivated over in the field. Emergence, percent burial, damage to buried...

Lepidopteran insects use sex pheromones to communicate for mating. Olfactory communication and mate-finding can be prevented by permeating the atmosphere with synthetic pheromone. Pheromone-mediated mating disruption has become a commercially viable pest management technique and is used to control the codling moth, Cydia pomonella, a key insect pest of apple, on 160,000 ha worldwide. The codlin...

Multispecies interactions may have important consequences for the ecology and evolution of mutualism by changing the cost-to-benefit ratio. Here I determine whether florivorous beetles can limit moth populations and influence the costs of the mutualism between yuccas and their pollinating moths. Yucca moths actively pollinate yucca flowers, and their larvae feed on a portion of the seeds. I use...