Leopard Moth Research Articles

Observations on Shade Tree Insects

The elm leaf beetle, Galerucella xanthomelaena, the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, the willow leaf beetle, Plagiodera versicolora, and the larch case bearer, ColeoPhoralaricella, were all abundant and possibly as destructive as in 1931. The occurrence of many parasites, Scolia dubia, on a lawn badly injured by the Japanese beetle and the green June beetle, Allorhina nitida, is recorded. Notes are given on the cypress leaf miner, Recurvaria apicitripunctella, a leaf beetle, Calligrapha philadelPhica, a privet thrips, Dendrothrips ornatus, and the black vine weevil, Brachyrhinus sulcatus. The two-lined chestnut borer, Agrilus bilineatus, and the bronze birch borer, Agrilus anxius, were killing trees locally. They were probably favored by the series of droughts in recent years. A bad infestation of rhododendron stems by the pitted ambrosia beetle, Corthylus punctatissimus, is recorded from Long Island, and the local prevalence of the leopard moth, Zeuzera pyrina, on Nantucket Island is reported. The oak pruner, Hypermallus villosus, has been extraordinarily abundant in. the northeastern United States. The fruit tree bark beetle, Scolytus rugulosus, and the European elm bark beetle, Scolytus multistriatus, have developed in great numbers on weak trees. The European pine shoot moth, Rhyacionia buoliana, continues as a destructive pest, and the Nantucket pine moth, Rhyacionia frustrana, has been extremely abundant on Nantucket Island. The recently discovered white pine tip moth, Eucosma gloriola, is becoming somewhat widely distributed, though not seriously injurious. The unusual local abundance of the pitch mass borer, Parharmonia pini, was observed at Bedford Hills, N. Y. The elm lace bug, Corythucha ulmi, and the sycamore lace bug, Corythucha ciliata, have been unusually prevalent, and the work of the linden lace bug, GargaPhia tiliae, came to notice on account of its abundance at Stockbridge, Mass. An elm pouch gall, ErioPhyes sp., was very numerous on elms at Wakefield and Lynnfield, Mass., and the maple bladder gall, Phyllocoptes lJ.uadripes, was extremely abundant on a soft maple at Newburgh, N. Y. The tulip tree scale, Toumeyella liriodendri, was quite prevalent, though it was preyed upon locally by the caterpillars of Laetillia coccidivora. The Euonymus scale, ChionasPis euonymi, has been extremely numerous in various plantings. A new hemlock leaf scale, Fiorinia, near F. fioriniae Kuwana, is becoming established and injurious at several Long Island and southwestern New England localities. The Chinese mantid, Paratenodera sinensis, has been unusually abundant in southwestern New England and southeastern New York.

Spread of the Leopard Moth in Connecticut and Its Injury to Shade Trees

Spread of the Leopard Moth in Connecticut and Its Injury to Shade Trees

The Leopard Moth as a Pest of Apple Nursery Stock

The Leopard Moth as a Pest of Apple Nursery Stock

Economic Entomology in the United States

MAPLE trees grown in the United States are liable to severe injury from defoliation by caterpillars. In addition to the fall web-worm (Hyphantria cunea, Dru.) and tussock moth caterpillar (Hemerocampa leucostigma, Dru.) there is a common and troublesome species known as the green-striped maple-worm (Anisota rubicunda, Fab.), which attacks maples of all kinds, and feeds occasionally on box-elder and oak. In a bulletin recently issued by the United States Department of Agriculture Bureau of Entomology, the latter pest is described in some detail by Messrs. Howard and Chittenden. In another publication they describe the leopard moth (Zeuzera pyrina, Fab.), the larvæ of which cause severe injury to many deciduous trees in northern New Jersey and eastern New York. It has been successfully combated in the public parks of New York City by injecting carbon di-sulphide into the larval burrows in the bark. Mr. Chittenden describes the rose-chafer (Macrodactylus subspinosus, Fab.), a long-legged beetle of a light yellowish-brown colour, which appears suddenly and in vast swarms in certain years, usually towards the middle of June in the northern States and about two weeks earlier in the southern, overrunning vineyards and orchards, nurseries and gardens. In about a month or six weeks from the time of their first arrival, generally after they have done a vast amount of damage, the beetles disappear as suddenly as they came. No successful means of combating them is yet known, the difficulty being that any process, to be successful, must be applied almost continuously.