White butterfly control measures. American butterfly - how to get rid of it? (timing and control measures)
Recorded in Europe (Yugoslavia), where it spread from France to the Caspian Sea. In 1952 it was discovered in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. In 1966 it was discovered in the Odessa region and in Moldova, in 1968 - in the Donetsk and Vinnitsa regions. Currently, it has spread to 11 regions of Ukraine, including Kherson, Kyiv, Nikolaev, Zaporozhye, Crimea, etc.
The species was also recorded only once in Lithuania. In 2012, it was discovered in three regions of Ukraine: Vinnitsa, Zhytomyr and Dnepropetrovsk.
Description
The wingspan of males is 25 - 30 mm, females 25 - 36 mm. The butterfly is snow-white in color, sometimes with black or brown dots on the wings. The antennae are black with a white coating; in the male they are comb-like, in the female they are filamentous. The butterfly's body is covered with thick white hairs. In females that have not laid eggs, the abdomen is greenish with translucent eggs.
Life cycle
Caterpillar
Caterpillars of the fourth instar live in colonies, forming large cobweb nests, often entwining entire trees with cobwebs.
After mating, females lay relatively large eggs of green, yellow-greenish or golden yellow color with a blue tint, up to 0.5 - 0.7 mm in diameter. As the embryo develops, the color of the eggs changes to a dirty gray. Lays eggs on the underside of the leaf in groups of 100-600 pieces. One female lays up to 1500 eggs, females of the second cult are more fertile: each of them lays up to 2500 eggs. The egg clutches are covered with a sparse layer of white hairs from the tip of the female's abdomen. Caterpillars emerge from eggs after 9-15 days. The first instar caterpillar is green, has tubercles, and has bristles and hairs on its body. The caterpillars of the first three instars are pale yellow in color, but after each molt they darken. In total, caterpillars usually have 6 instars (sometimes 7 - 8). The last instar caterpillar is velvety brown with black warts on its body; along the sides of its body there is a lemon-yellow stripe with orange warts. The caterpillar is heavily covered with long hairs. The length of an adult caterpillar reaches 30-35 mm. Caterpillars of the fourth instar live in colonies, forming large cobweb nests, often entwining entire trees with cobwebs. The caterpillar stage is 40 - 45 days. The pupa is 8 - 15 mm long, in a sparse gray loose cobweb cocoon of hairs; at first its color is pale yellow, but later it acquires a dark brown color. Pupae overwinter under trees, in dry leaves, in weed stems, in debris on the ground, cracks in fences and buildings, and on the soil surface. The development of all stages depends on temperature and relative humidity
Biology
The flight of butterflies begins before or during the flowering of the apple tree. In Ukraine and southern Russia, two generations usually develop; in some years, incomplete 3 generations are observed. Second generation butterflies fly from mid-July to the end of August.
Economic importance
Quarantine pest of fruit crops. Damaged crops: mulberry, apple tree, plum, cherry, walnut, pear, quince, apricot, peach, bird cherry, rose hip (up to 230 species of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in total). Due to its polyphagous nature, high fertility and the presence of several generations per year, it poses a great danger. It causes especially great harm after the appearance of the second generation.
Notes
Literature
- Bulyginskaya M.A., Shamshev I.V. Sem. Arctiidae. / Insects and mites - pests of agricultural crops (ed. Kuznetsov V.I.). T. 3, part 2. Lepidoptera. St. Petersburg: Nauka, 1999. pp. 320-331.
- Vasiliev V.P., Livshits I.Z. Pests of fruit crops. M.: Kolos, 1984. 399 p.
- Shutova N.N., Smetnik A.I. Quarantine pests, plant diseases and weeds. / Plant quarantine in the USSR (ed. Shamonin A.I., Smetnik A.I.). M.: Agropomizdat, 1986. P. 143-248.
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Summary data |
|
Favorable t (about C) | +23 +24 |
Min. t development (about C) | +12 |
Optim. air humidity, % | 75 |
Fertility (pcs) | 1500-2500 |
Generations per year | 1-3 |
Egg(mm) | 0,5-0,7 |
Larva (mm) | 1-40 |
Pupa (mm) | 10-15 |
Imago (mm) | 9-15 |
Wingspan (mm) | 20-36 |
Morphology
Egg. Round shape. Size - 0.5-0.7 mm. The color of the integument is yellowish-green or golden yellow.
Development
Mating period. The female mates on the day of hatching or every other day. To search for a sexual partner and oviposition site, it can move a distance of 250 m. The flight of the overwintered one occurs in May, the summer one - at the end of July - beginning of August. An hour or two after mating, the female lays eggs on the lower part of the leaf blade. Most females lay at night. The fertility of the first generation is lower and reaches a maximum of 1500. The summer generation is more fertile; the female is able to lay up to 2500 eggs.
Egg. The optimal temperature for successful embryonic development is +23-+24 °C with a relative ambient humidity of 75%. Already when the humidity is reduced to 30-50%, the death of not only embryos, but also hatching caterpillars is observed. At temperatures below +12 °C, the emergence of caterpillars completely stops. At a temperature of +17-+18°C, embryo development occurs in 15 days, and at +23-+25°C - in 6-9 days.
Morphologically related species
According to morphological characteristics, the speckled bear is close to the described species ( Spilosoma menthastri). This is a white butterfly with a wingspan of 35-42 mm. There are black dots on the front and back. orange-yellow, light, with rows of black spots, white at the end. The caterpillar is dark brown in color, with tufts of black-brown hairs. There is a red-yellow stripe and white stripes on the back. black, shiny. Cocoon is gray.
In addition, the American white butterfly (Hyphantria cunea) must be distinguished from ( Euproctis chrysorrhoea), the tip of which is orange, as well as Willow moth ( Stilpnotia salicis) - clearly a larger insect with a span of 35-55 mm and comb-shaped.
Geographical distribution
Distributions of the American white butterfly:
- Europe- Austria, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Russia, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Yugoslavia, Switzerland.
- Asia- the species is found in Korea, China, Uzbekistan, Japan, in North America - in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
In the Russian Federation, the areas of distribution of the species are:
Maliciousness
The vital activity of American white butterfly caterpillars leads to defoliation of plantings, and subsequently to the weakening and death of individual plants. The decorative and protective functions of forest plantations are reduced. In fruit trees, if 20% of the leaves are damaged, the yield decreases by 5-10%, and if 50% of the leaves are damaged, by 50-55%. Eating 75% of foliage results in a complete lack of yield.
Growing and caring for your own garden is not easy work.
A person is forced to make efforts even against nature itself, so that the trees he grows produce tasty and juicy fruits, and the harvest pleases with its richness.
But in the living world, nothing ever happens so simply, because the Earth is inhabited by so-called pests, which people have been fighting for a long time.
Specifically, we will talk about an amazing insect called the American white butterfly.
Who is this pest?
The American white butterfly is a small insect (about 3 cm wide and no more than 1.5 cm long).
However, despite their miniature size, these creations of Mother Nature have managed to spread their habitat to many places on Earth.
The color of the wings of butterflies is predominantly white, sometimes with black dots, and the body is scaly.
It is easy to distinguish females of this species from males: females have filamentous antennae, while males have feathery ones.
Moreover, before the start of reproduction, the abdomen of the female insect is painted green, and when eggs are laid, they have a corresponding color.
How can a butterfly harm a person?
The caterpillars of the American butterfly are the most harmful to human activity, since older individuals are not very demanding of the available food. Caterpillars feed on tree bark and then plants.
The latter lose their usual beauty and attractiveness, and the trees die.
As a result, the habitat of many animals is under threat, crop yields are significantly reduced, and the so-called baby butterflies can cause allergies in humans.
How to punish the unfortunate pest?
There are 2 most effective methods of combating “destroying butterflies”.
The first is the use of chemical insecticides, and the second, more sinister, is the discovery of the pest's habitat and its subsequent elimination.
The second method will work great if the area of the site is small, since it will be easier to detect the “hornet’s nest”.
The survey is carried out about once a week, and signs of butterflies in the area are not difficult to identify.
For more effective reprisals against the enemy, the removal should be carried out in the late afternoon, when “the whole family will be assembled.” It is enough to remove a few leaves - this will lead to the death of the entire colony.
The use of chemicals is a good way to control the American moth family. A variety of drugs will be needed, regardless of their specific application.
Substances containing viruses actively control pests. Insects, without knowing it, will transmit the disease to each other.
As a result, about a third of the entire population will die, and the harmful activities of the remaining part will be diminished.
Folk remedies for fighting evil butterflies.
Many gardeners prefer to use folk remedies, since this approach is cheaper and more practical. For example, a hose trap is very popular and can catch most of the population.
Its essence is this: barrels of water are placed under a diseased tree, and hoses are placed on the water. Insects will be attracted by the moisture and remain in the hoses. Next comes the execution process. It's quite simple!
The use of the above-mentioned means will give more success if you monitor the thankless activities of white butterflies in the spring, with climate warming.
You should take this matter seriously, because this, at first glance, a completely harmless creation of nature, is capable of destroying human harvests and the entire habitat of other living organisms.
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American White Butterfly – Hyphanthria cunea Drury
Systematic position - order Lepidoptera - Lepidoptera, bear family - Arctiidae.
Damages
Caterpillars
They most readily feed on the leaves of mulberry and ash-leaved maple, less willingly on the leaves of plum, apple, cherry, walnut, pear, thorn and other fruit trees. Among forest tree species, caterpillars can damage linden, common ash, hornbeam, beech, sycamore, oak, plane tree, poplar, and willow, and among shrubs, elderberry and hazel.
Hyphantria cunea - Complete gorging |
Maliciousness
Causes great damage to gardens, parks, forest parks, shelterbelts; causes enormous damage to sericulture.
Spreading
The American white butterfly is a quarantine object. In the late 30s of the 20th century, it was imported from America with agricultural products and was first discovered in 1940 in Hungary, later in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. In 1952 it was discovered in the USSR, in the Transcarpathian region.
Preferred stations
It reproduces quickly in drier, warmer and rain-poor areas. Places for breeding and settlement of the American white butterfly in forests are clearings of deciduous trees, in particular oak, especially those poisoned by livestock and deprived of a shady layer and soil-protective undergrowth or with a rare undergrowth of hazel, blackthorn, and elderberry, forest edges, the outskirts of plantings along various roads, riverine deciduous plantations, shelterbelts and protective strips along railways and roads, isolated small forests, forest parks, parks, groves, groups of trees and even individual trees. In this case, mainly the more illuminated and warmed parts of the crowns are populated.
Generation
double In more northern conditions (in Slovakia), incomplete two generations were observed, and in more southern conditions (Yugoslavia), incomplete three generations.
Diagnostic signs
Butterflies
The wingspan of female butterflies is up to 3.6 cm, males – up to 3.2 cm. Males have feathery antennae, females have short-serrate antennae. The butterflies are white, the body and legs are covered with white fluffy hairs, the legs have terminal spurs. Claws with a tooth on the inside. The proboscis is well developed. Often, especially among butterflies of the spring generation, speckled forms appear, in which black spots appear on the wings, dorsal and lateral surfaces of the abdomen in females, and dark brown spots in males, ranging from single to several dozen.
Hyphantria cunea - Adult, male |
Hyphantria cunea - Adult, female |
Testicles
spherical with a flat base; 0.7-0.5 mm in size, smooth, with a fine-mesh structure; freshly laid eggs are first golden-yellow or yellow-green, then gray. They are arranged in a single-layer cluster of up to 400-600 pieces, occasionally up to 1000 pieces, on the underside of the leaves and are slightly covered with white fluff.
Caterpillars
up to 3.6 cm in length, heavily hairy, with a dark-colored back, with greenish-gray sides and underside. There are rows of warts along the body. The two rows of dorsal warts are black with black and light yellow hairs. Six lateral rows of warts, three rows on each side, orange-yellow with white hairs with black hairs mixed in only in the upper row of warts. In front of the large dorsal warts there are a pair of closely spaced small black warts bearing tufts of reddish bristles. The head, pectoral and abdominal legs are shiny black. The caterpillars of the American white butterfly differ from the caterpillars of similar butterflies in the absence of two orange glands on the 9th and 10th segments (present in the lacewing and yellowtail caterpillars), in the absence of light stripes on the back (present in the shaggy, speckled, nettle and swift bear).
Hyphantria cunea - 1st instar caterpillars |
Hyphantria cunea - 1st instar caterpillars in nest |
Hyphantria cunea - 2nd instar caterpillars |
Pupae are up to 1.5 cm long, red-brown to black. The cremaster looks like a curved spatula. At its apex there are 12 spines, the ends of which are expanded and disc-shaped flattened (clove-shaped). The covers of the lower labial tentacles are absent. The puncture of the abdomen is small and sparse. The pupae rest in a thin brownish-gray cocoon woven from silks and caterpillar hairs. Pupation occurs in nests (in summer), in cracks in the bark, under dead bark, in hollows, in the forks of branches, under fallen leaves, in places of buildings sheltered from rain. Often gregarious behavior of caterpillars occurs, leading to joint pupation.
Hyphantria cunea - Pupae under bark |
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Phenology
First year of development: flight of butterflies – May (2.3), June (1.2); eggs – May (2.3), June (1-3); caterpillars – June, July (1-3), August (1); pupae – July (2.3), August (1.2); years of butterflies – July (3), August (1-3); eggs – August (1-3), September (1); caterpillars – August (2.3), September (1-3), October (1.2); pupae – October-March (1-3).
Second year of development: pupae – April, May (1-3), June (1); years of butterflies - May (2.3), June (1.2).
Note: ten days of the month are indicated in brackets
Some wintering pupae may enter a state of diapause and give birth to butterflies not in May, but in August or May of the next year. The fertility of butterflies varies significantly and depends both on the generation and on the breed on which the caterpillars feed. Butterflies of the spring generation lay 500-600 eggs, and butterflies of the summer generation - 700-800 eggs. When caterpillars fed on oak leaves, fecundity averaged 204 eggs, on hornbeam leaves - 344 eggs, on ash maple leaves - 854 eggs.
Caterpillars
live and feed in nests, gradually entwining leaves and branches with mulberries. Therefore, the size of the nest gradually increases and can reach 2 m. Caterpillars of the 6th instar crawl away and lead a solitary lifestyle. During their development, caterpillars molt 5-7 times and go through 6-8 instars. The number of ages depends on weather and nutrition conditions. The feeding requirement for one caterpillar of the first generation is 10-12 medium-sized apple or mulberry leaves or 0.6-0.7 g of beech, hornbeam or oak leaves. Complete consumption of leaves on one medium-sized apple tree is produced by 4000 caterpillars or the offspring of 8-10 females.
Frosts below -30°C, drought and high temperatures during the period of mass hatching of caterpillars from eggs, rainy and cool summer weather, and autumn cold with rain and frosts have a negative effect on caterpillars and pupae, causing their death. Optimal development temperature: +26°.
Reconnaissance surveillance
It is best to visit caterpillar nests in mid-July and mid-September or a little later (during cool and rainy summers). The discovery of nests in any number should signal the need to combat the American white butterfly. Butterflies fly well into light, so light traps can be used for supervision. The use of attractants in traps also gives good results. Males were caught in dozens and even hundreds when butterflies could not be detected using the usual visual method.
Control measures
Spraying plantings during the development of caterpillars with insecticides recommended against lacewing. It is also possible to use the viral drug Virin-ABB.
White American butterfly - description
These butterflies move at night, very quickly and over long distances, so they have few natural enemies. The caterpillar of a white American butterfly is brown, velvety, with black spots all over its body, and fluffy. Pupae of the pest overwinter in the bark of trees, in the stems of dry plants, under clods of earth and even indoors! In a word, winters, even with severe frosts, are not scary for this pest.
Butterflies appear in the spring, during the flowering period of fruit trees. In May-June, they actively lay eggs, and after a couple of weeks, caterpillars emerge from the eggs, which literally devour the deciduous part of the tree in just a few hours. Caterpillars live in colonies - these are the same “nests” made of cobwebs that we see on trees affected by the pest. For 40, or even 50 days, the caterpillars destroy everything in their path, and only then pupate. Already in July, the next generation of butterflies appears; the females of the second generation are even more fertile: one individual lays 2,500 eggs! The second generation caterpillars eat trees until autumn.
How to deal with the white American butterfly
Destroy the leaves on which the butterfly laid eggs. It is very easy to detect such “incubator leaves”: they darken and curl.
It is better to destroy caterpillars at night or after rain, when the pests gather in groups.
If you decide to fight against the white American butterfly with chemicals, then here is a list of them: Chlorophos, Entobacterin, Sevin, Rogor S, Dursban 480, Karate 050EC, Pirinex 40.
Traditional methods of fighting butterflies
Here is my personally proven method of dealing with white American butterfly caterpillars: you will need large barrels or other large-volume containers. Place the barrels under the affected tree at a distance of 10 cm from each other. Pour water into the barrels, and place pieces of rubber hoses approximately one and a half meters long on the edge of each barrel. On hot days, the caterpillars are attracted to the moisture in the barrels, and in search of a cozy place for pupation, the caterpillars crawl into the hoses and there turn into a pupa in a few days.
Your task is to wash the caterpillars out of the hoses and destroy them. From my experience: in a couple of days, several dozen pests of varying degrees of maturity collect in one such hose.
Last summer, I collected thousands of caterpillars and pupae from my plot using only three barrels using this method!