Fight to preserve trees in Northeast from gypsy moths
Staff Writer |
Lymantria dispar, the gypsy moth, is responsible for millions of acres of defoliation annually.
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In Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the gypsy moths have an extremely successful season for them, divorcing a hundred thousand acres of trees from their leaves.
Although gypsy moths are capable of feeding on over 500 different species of trees and plants, they prefer oak trees. Although it usually takes more than one year of defoliation before trees die, conifers that are defoliated may be killed after a single season of defoliation.
Gypsy moths are native to parts of Europe, Asia, and northern Africa and were first brought to the United States in the 1860s. Trouvelot, a French scientist, wanted to breed gypsy moths with silk moths with the hopes of creating a lucrative silk market in the United States.
He chose gypsy moths because, unlike silk moths which are very particular about what they eat, gypsy moths feed on leaves of over 500 types of trees and shrubs. Trouvelot believed that a cross between the two moth species would create a hardy silk-producer that would be easy to raise and inexpensive to feed.
Unfortunately for Trouvelot, silk moths and gypsy moths are not even in the same insect family and cannot breed with each other. Although his dreams of creating a lucrative silk market in the United States were never fulfilled, Trouvelot did unintentionally start another multi-million dollar industry - that of gypsy moth control.
Gypsy moth has one generation per year, and includes egg, caterpillar, pupae and adult stages. Female moths lay egg masses on tree boles, branches, vehicles, houses, and other structures, and this aids their spread to new areas.
Egg masses are buff-colored after they are initially deposited in late summer, but they become lighter in color as they bleach in the sun. Egg mass size may indicate population trends.
When populations are declining, most egg masses are around 1/2 inch long and contain about 100 eggs, while building populations have 1 1/2 inch long egg masses containing up to a thousand eggs.
Gypsy moths survive the winter in the egg stage and hatch from mid-April to mid-May in Illinois when temperatures are above 60 degrees Fahrenheit.Mature caterpillars pupate from mid June through early July in Illinois.
Mice, shrews, and ground beetles eat the pupae, and are an important regulator of gypsy moth in this stage. Adult gypsy moths emerge about two weeks after pupating. Adults only live about a week, and do not feed.
Female gypsy moths use chemicals to attract a mate soon after they emerge. They lay eggs about a day after mating.
Adult gypsy moth males have feathery antennae and brown wings and are able to fly, while cream-colored females of European gypsy moths cannot fly and have threadlike antennae. If it's a white moth and flying it is not a Gypsy Moth. ■