Annual Migration of Cabbage Moth, Mamestra brassicae L. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), over the Sea in Northern China.

Xiao Wu,Jianglong Guo,Xincheng Zhao,Xiaowei Fu,Kongming Wu,Claude Wicker-Thomas

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0132904

Abstract

The cabbage moth, Mamestra brassicae L. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a serious pest of vegetable crops throughout the world. In order to determine whether or not M. brassicae is a migrant, and if yes, what is the pattern of M. brassicae seasonal migration, a long-term study on M. brassicae from April to October in 2003–2014 was carried out by means of a searchlight trap on a small island located in the center of the Bohai Strait. The results show that a large number of M. brassicae were trapped every year on the island, which indicates that M. brassicae is a migrant and migrated at least 40–60 km across the Bohai Strait. The mean migration period of M. brassicae over the sea within one year is 151 ± 8 d in 2003–2014, with the shortest time span 78 d in 2003 and the longest 189 d in 2014, respectively. The number of M. brassicae captured, however, varies considerably between months or years. The majority of captures were female, with different levels of ovarian development and mating status. Most of the females trapped in May-July during 2010–2014 had a high mating rate and advanced level of ovarian development, suggesting that the migration of this species does not conform to the hypothesis of ‘oogenesis-flight syndrome’. The findings of the present study are beneficial to the development of forecasting systems and management strategies of M. brassicae.

Highlights

The cabbage moth, Mamestra brassicae L. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a serious pest species of vegetable crops with a widespread distribution around the world, mainly including the regions from 30°N to about 70°N of Europe and Asia [1,2,3,4]
Some wild cruciferous weeds were available as potential hosts, field investigation found no M. brassicae larvae on BH
During 2003–2014, the results of searchlight trapping showed that there was a large number of captured M. brassicae on BH every year, which provided the first conclusive evidence that M. brassicae is a migrant species

Summary

Introduction

The cabbage moth, Mamestra brassicae L. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a serious pest species of vegetable crops with a widespread distribution around the world, mainly including the regions from 30°N to about 70°N of Europe and Asia [1,2,3,4]. The M. brassicae has 1–4 generations each year from the northern area to the southern [2,5,6], and its occurrence exhibits intermittent and outbreak characteristics [7]. The M. brassicae is a highly polyphagous insect with a wide host range (more than 300 species of 100 families), of which the Brassicaceae is the most preferred [4,8]. This pest causes about 20%-25% of the damage rate of vegetables and 25%-40% reductions in yield each year [9].

Methods

Results

Conclusion