Hibernation, Spring Emergence, and Pupation Habits of the Sunflower Moth, Homoeosoma electellum1,2

Abstract

Drake and Harris (1926) reported that it was not known how the sunflower moth, Homoeosoma electellum (Hulst), passes the winter, but on Nov. 19 they found larvae tunneling in dry stems of old plants. Satterthwait and Swain (1946) stated that although the weather at Havana, Cuba, is mild all winter, the activity of this insect practically ceased in December. It was construed that the prolonged larval stage during the winter was evidence that this was normally the overwintering stage. Knowles and Lange (1954) stated that pupation occurs in cocoons among or within individual seeds. Carlson (1967) reported that in northern California, pupation occurs in the soil, not in the sunflower heads or seeds. In tests to determine the importance of photoperiod and temperature as factors controlling the diapause of the sunflower moth, it has been shown (Teetes et al. 1969) that this insect diapauses at the end of the larval feeding period within a webbed cocoon. That study did not involve overwintering habitats or spring emergence patterns.