Variations in Flight Phenology and New Data on the Distribution of the Banded Sunflower Moth (Lepidoptera: Cochylidae)

Abstract

Populations of Cochylis hospes Walsingham were monitored with pheromonebaited traps from 1985 to 1987 at 47 locations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey, Maine, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, and Oregon. Traps were placed at the edge of sunflower fields and were checked from 20 June to the end of the flight period (August or September, depending on the locality). In North Dakota and Minnesota, emergence of adults from the soil and oviposition also were observed through the season. Results indicated that in eastern North Dakota and Minnesota, emergence of adults and oviposition were concurrent in time with flight activity as indicated by pheromone trap catches. In western North Dakota, western South Dakota, Kansas, Indiana, and southwestern Ohio, moths emerged later than in the eastern Dakotas, Minnesota, and central Iowa. C. hospes was recorded for the first time in Ohio, Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, and Oregon.