Implications of Larval Mortality at Low Temperatures and High Soil Moistures for Establishment of Pink Bollworm (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in Southeastern United States Cotton

Abstract

Abstract The pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), remains a significant pest of cotton (Gossypium spp.) in the southwestern United States, but is not known to be established in the primary cotton production areas of the southeastern United States. Absence of P. gossypiella may be the result of federal regulatory action (e.g., monitoring, quarantine, and eradication), climate, or other ecological factors. The objectives of this study were to determine how low temperatures and high soil moisture common to the southeastern United States might affect mortality of diapausing, preconditioned, and nondiapausing larvae of P. gossypiella. In constant temperature incubators set between 22 and 5°C (0% moisture, 0:24 [L:D] h), nondiapausing prepupal (fourth or fifth instar) larvae died more quickly at lower temperatures. At 5°C, 90% of the cohort was dead after 12 d. Similarly, prepupal larvae that had been reared under diapause inducing conditions (20°C, 10:14 [L:D] h) since neonate stage also died mo...