Recovery of Released Male Cabbage Looper Moths in Traps Equipped with Blacklight Lamps and Baited with Virgin Females123

Abstract

Moths of the male cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hubner), were marked and released and then captured in traps equipped with black light lamps, unbaited or baited with virgin females, distributed over a 690-acre experimental area at Home Gardens, California. Although moths that were 3 to 4-days old when they were liberated were caught sooner than those that were 0 to 1 day old, the total catches of the 2 age groups were not significantly different. Moths were recovered as much as 10,000 feet from the release point, but the numbers of released moths captured decreased with increasing distance of the traps from the point of release. The number of days before the catch of released moths dropped to 50 and 95% of the total recovered ranged from 1.3 to 1.5 days and from 3.0 to 4.3 days, respectively. Twenty-two baited traps in the experimental area captured as high as 17% of the released male moths and baited traps were more efficient than unbaited traps. Estimates of the total male cabbage looper moth population for July, October, and November ranged from 504 to 54/acre. The data, after allowance for dispersion, indicated that more than 9070 of the estimated cabbage looper male recoveries were made within 4000 feet from the point of release.