This week Ottawa hosted, once again, the Forest Pest Management Forum. This is an annual meeting where people from all over Canada (and a few from the United States) gather together to share updated information about forestry pests and its management in the country.
I have never been to those meetings, but this year a good friend and colleague, Dr. John Huber, from the Canadian Forestry Service and the Canadian National Collection of Insects (CNC) in Ottawa, suggested me to attend. And I was seriously planning to go when some unexpected complications at work prevented me to do it.
As a "consolation prize" I ended checking the website of the meeting to at least have a sense of what was going on there. First I found a nice compilation of pdf files with the proceedings of past meetings. Anyone interested in the topics of Entomology, Forestry and Pest Management should take the time and revise that valuable source of data. There are tons of information there. One of the most interesting, in my humble opinion, is to see the historical pattern of pests, within the country and in individual provinces. You can follow the evolution of different pest problems that Canadian forests have experienced during the past years by just reading those proceedings.
I went back only seven years, up to the proceedings of the 2005 meeting. But found quite a few interesting details, and this post is to share what I found about Lepidoptera pests.
First of all, I could compile a list of 119 species and 20 families of Lepidoptera caterpillars that have been considered forestry pests in Canada (see detailed list at the end of this post). Half of all species belong to just two families: Geometridae (27%) and Tortricidaae (26%), and seven families account for three quarters of the species.
Of course, most of those species are of low significance and cause minor affectations to forestry (or the damage is just too sporadic or too sparse to consider them of real importance). Actually less than a dozen species can be considered as serious pests. Still, this grand total of 119 species should remind us of how quickly things can go wrong with an insect pest. Unfortunately, the next "new pest" outbreak might be just around the corner...
Within the last seven years (2005-2011) the proceedings of the Forest Pest Management meetings mention at least 51 of those 119 species (or 43% of the total), with a few of them being major pests, while the rest is considered of occasional and/or local importance.
[As many people know very well, the major pest problems in Canadian forestry these days are beetles (mountain pine beetle, emerald ash borer, etc) rather than moths -with a few exceptions, such as the spruce budworm. But this blog is about Lepidoptera and its braconid parasitoids, thus I will leave the analysis on beetles to some coleopterist].
Back to the topic, my next step is to try compiling how much do we know about the natural enemies of those pests in Canada. And I found that we know very few about most of the species. However, we are lucky to have a large source of unpublished and unknown data in the Braconidae collection of the CNC. There are many new records of braconid wasps parasitizing those caterpillar species that Canadian researches mention as forestry pests. Thus, in future posts I plan to follow up this thread by sharing that information, which I will be gathering while studying the CNC collection. Stay tuned for more on this soon.
The following list provides details of 119 species of Lepidoptera that have been considered pest of Canadian forest. It was compiled from information freely available at Natural Resources Canada with some additions from the last seven Proceedings of the Forest Pest Management Forum meetings. The species are listed in alphabetical order by their scientific names, with the common names and families of Lepidoptera they belong to, also provided. Species preceded by an asterisk (*) are those mentioned in the Pest Forum meetings of the past seven years (2005-2011).
I have never been to those meetings, but this year a good friend and colleague, Dr. John Huber, from the Canadian Forestry Service and the Canadian National Collection of Insects (CNC) in Ottawa, suggested me to attend. And I was seriously planning to go when some unexpected complications at work prevented me to do it.
As a "consolation prize" I ended checking the website of the meeting to at least have a sense of what was going on there. First I found a nice compilation of pdf files with the proceedings of past meetings. Anyone interested in the topics of Entomology, Forestry and Pest Management should take the time and revise that valuable source of data. There are tons of information there. One of the most interesting, in my humble opinion, is to see the historical pattern of pests, within the country and in individual provinces. You can follow the evolution of different pest problems that Canadian forests have experienced during the past years by just reading those proceedings.
I went back only seven years, up to the proceedings of the 2005 meeting. But found quite a few interesting details, and this post is to share what I found about Lepidoptera pests.
First of all, I could compile a list of 119 species and 20 families of Lepidoptera caterpillars that have been considered forestry pests in Canada (see detailed list at the end of this post). Half of all species belong to just two families: Geometridae (27%) and Tortricidaae (26%), and seven families account for three quarters of the species.
Lepidoptera considered as pest of Canadian forests (grand total: 119 species and 20 families). For an explanation of the data sources, see detailed list of species added at the end of this post.
Of course, most of those species are of low significance and cause minor affectations to forestry (or the damage is just too sporadic or too sparse to consider them of real importance). Actually less than a dozen species can be considered as serious pests. Still, this grand total of 119 species should remind us of how quickly things can go wrong with an insect pest. Unfortunately, the next "new pest" outbreak might be just around the corner...
Within the last seven years (2005-2011) the proceedings of the Forest Pest Management meetings mention at least 51 of those 119 species (or 43% of the total), with a few of them being major pests, while the rest is considered of occasional and/or local importance.
[As many people know very well, the major pest problems in Canadian forestry these days are beetles (mountain pine beetle, emerald ash borer, etc) rather than moths -with a few exceptions, such as the spruce budworm. But this blog is about Lepidoptera and its braconid parasitoids, thus I will leave the analysis on beetles to some coleopterist].
Back to the topic, my next step is to try compiling how much do we know about the natural enemies of those pests in Canada. And I found that we know very few about most of the species. However, we are lucky to have a large source of unpublished and unknown data in the Braconidae collection of the CNC. There are many new records of braconid wasps parasitizing those caterpillar species that Canadian researches mention as forestry pests. Thus, in future posts I plan to follow up this thread by sharing that information, which I will be gathering while studying the CNC collection. Stay tuned for more on this soon.
The following list provides details of 119 species of Lepidoptera that have been considered pest of Canadian forest. It was compiled from information freely available at Natural Resources Canada with some additions from the last seven Proceedings of the Forest Pest Management Forum meetings. The species are listed in alphabetical order by their scientific names, with the common names and families of Lepidoptera they belong to, also provided. Species preceded by an asterisk (*) are those mentioned in the Pest Forum meetings of the past seven years (2005-2011).
| 1 | (*) | Acleris gloverana (Walsingham) | Western blackheaded budworm | Tortricidae |
| 2 | (*) | Acleris variana (Fernie) | Eastern blackheaded budworm | Tortricidae |
| 3 | Acossus centerensis [Lint.] | Poplar carpenterworm | Cossidae | |
| 4 | (*) | Acronicta americana (Harr.) | American Dagger Moth | Noctuidae |
| 5 | Acossus populi (Walker) | Aspen carpenterworm | Cossidae | |
| 6 | (*) | Alsophila pometaria [Harris] | Fall cankerworm | Geometridae |
| 7 | (*) | Archips cerasivorana (Fitch) | Uglynest caterpillar | Tortricidae |
| 8 | Archips negundana (Dyar) | Larger boxelder leafroller | Tortricidae | |
| 9 | (*) | Argyresthia cupressella Walshingham | Cypress tip moth | Yponomeutidae |
| 10 | (*) | Argyresthia thuiella (Packard) | Arborvitae leafminer | Yponomeutidae |
| 11 | Argyrotaenia citrana (Fernie) | Orange tortrix | Tortricidae | |
| 12 | Argyrotaenia juglandana (Fern.) | Hickory Leafroller | Tortricidae | |
| 13 | (*) | Bucculatrix canadensisella Chambers | Birch skeletonizer | Bucculatrigidae |
| 14 | Callophrys eryphon (Boisduval) | Western pine elfin | Lycaenidae | |
| 15 | Callophrys grynea barryi (Johnson) | Barry’s hairstreak | Lycaenidae | |
| 16 | Callophrys grynea rosneri (Johnson) | Rosner’s hairstreak | Lycaenidae | |
| 17 | (*) | Caloptilia fraxinella (Ely) | Ash leaf cone roller | Gracillariidae |
| 18 | Caloptilia syringella (Fabricius) | Lilac leafminer | Gracillariidae | |
| 19 | Cameraria aceriella (Clemens) | Maple leafblotch miner | Gracillariidae | |
| 20 | (*) | Caripeta divisata Walker | Gray spruce looper | Geometridae |
| 21 | Chionodes continuella (Zeller) | Gelechiid moth | Gelechiidae | |
| 22 | (*) | Choristoneura biennis Freeman | Two-year-cycle budworm | Tortricidae |
| 23 | (*) | Choristoneura conflictana (Walker) | Large aspen tortrix | Tortricidae |
| 24 | (*) | Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens) | Spruce budworm | Tortricidae |
| 25 | (*) | Choristoneura occidentalis (Freeman) | Western spruce budworm | Tortricidae |
| 26 | (*) | Choristoneura pinus Freeman | Jack pine budworm | Tortricidae |
| 27 | (*) | Choristoneura rosaceana (Harr.) | Oblique banded leafroller | Tortricidae |
| 28 | Cladara limitaria (Walker) | Yellowlined forest looper | Geometridae | |
| 29 | Clepsis persicana (Fitch) | Whitetriangle leafroller | Tortricidae | |
| 30 | (*) | Coleophora laricella (Hubner) | Larch casebearer | Coleophoridae |
| 31 | (*) | Coleophora serratella (Linnaeus) | Birch casebearer | Coleophoridae |
| 32 | Coleotechnites piceaella (Kearfott) | Orange spruce needleminer | Gelechiidae | |
| 33 | Coleotechnites thujaella (Kft) | Brown cedar leafminer | Gelechiidae | |
| 34 | (*) | Croesia semipurpurana (Kraft) | Oak leafshredder | Tortricidae |
| 35 | Cydia strobilella Linnaeus | Spruce seed moth | Tortricidae | |
| 36 | Dasychira grisefacta (Dyar) | Pine tussock moth | Lymantriidae | |
| 37 | Dichomeris marginella (Fabricius) | Juniper webworm | Gelechiidae | |
| 38 | Dioryctria abietivorella (Grote) | Fir coneworm | Pyralidae | |
| 39 | Dioryctria pseudotsugella Munroe | Dioryctria moth | Pyralidae | |
| 40 | Dioryctria reniculelloides Mutuura and Munroe | Spruce coneworm | Pyralidae | |
| 41 | Ditula angustiorana (Haworth) | Red-barred tortrix | Tortricidae | |
| 42 | Dolichomia thymetusalis (Walker) | Spruce needleworm, Paler dolichomia moth | Pyralidae | |
| 43 | (*) | Dryocampa rubicunda (Fabricius) | Greenstriped mapleworm | Saturniidae |
| 44 | Ectropis crepuscularia (Denis and Schiffermuller) | Saddleback looper | Geometridae | |
| 45 | (*) | Enargia decolor (Walker) | Aspen twoleaf tier | Noctuidae |
| 46 | (*) | Ennomos subsignaria (Hbn.) | Elm Spanworm | Geometridae |
| 47 | Enypia packardata (Taylor) | Packard’s gridle moth | Geometridae | |
| 48 | Epinotia radicana (Heinr.) | Spruce tip moth; redstriped needleworm | Tortricidae | |
| 49 | (*) | Epinotia solandriana (Linnaeus) | Birch-aspen leafroller | Tortricidae |
| 50 | Epinotia subviridis Heinrich | Cypress leaftier | Tortricidae | |
| 51 | Epirrita autumnata (Harrison) | Green velvet looper | Geometridae | |
| 52 | Epirrita pulchraria (Taylor) | Whitelined looper | Geometridae | |
| 53 | (*) | Erranis tiliaria Harris | Linden looper | Geometridae |
| 54 | Eucosma gloriola Heinrich | Eastern pine shoot borer | Tortricidae | |
| 55 | Eupithecia annulata (Hulst) | Larch pug moth | Geometridae | |
| 56 | Eupithecia lariciata (Frey.) | Fir needle inchworm | Geometridae | |
| 57 | Eupithecia palpata Pack. | Small pine looper | Geometridae | |
| 58 | Eurois occulta (Linnaeus) | Great brocade | Noctuidae | |
| 59 | (*) | Exotelia pinifoliella (Cham.) | Pine Needleminer | Gelechiidae |
| 60 | Feralia jocosa (Gn.) | Redlined conifer caterpillar | Noctuidae | |
| 61 | Hemithea aestivaria (Hubner) | Common emerald | Geometridae | |
| 62 | Heterocampa guttivitta Walker | Saddled prominent | Notodontidae | |
| 63 | Hyalophora euryalis (Walker) | Ceanothus silk moth | Saturniidae | |
| 64 | (*) | Hydria pruneverata (Ferguson) | Cherryscallopshell moth | Geometridae |
| 65 | Hypagyrtis piniata (Pack.) | Pine measuringworm moth | Geometridae | |
| 66 | (*) | Hyphantria cunea (Drury) | Fall webworm | Arctiidae |
| 67 | (*) | Iridopsis ephyraria (Wlk.) | Pale winged grey | Geometridae |
| 68 | Itame pustularia (Guen.) | Lesser maple spanworm | Geometridae | |
| 69 | (*) | Lambdina fiscellaria fiscellaria (Guenée) | Hemlock looper | Geometridae |
| 70 | (*) | Lambdina fiscellaria lugubrosa (Hulst) | Western hemlock looper | Geometridae |
| 71 | Lambdina fiscellaria somniaria (Hulst) | Western oak looper | Geometridae | |
| 72 | (*) | Leucoma salicis (L.) | Satin moth | Lymantriidae |
| 73 | Lophocampa argentata (Packard) | Silverspotted tiger moth | Arctiidae | |
| 74 | (*) | Lophocampa caryae Harris, 1841 | Hickory tussock moth | Arctiidae |
| 75 | (*) | Lymantria dispar (Linnaeus) | Gypsy moth | Lymantriidae |
| 76 | Macaria signaria dispuncta (Walker) | Spruce fir looper | Geometridae | |
| 77 | Malacosoma californicum pluviale (Dyar) | Northern tent caterpillar | Lasiocampidae | |
| 78 | (*) | Malacosoma disstria Hubner | Forest tent caterpillar | Lasiocampidae |
| 79 | Melanolophia imitata (Walker) | Greenstriped forest looper | Geometridae | |
| 80 | (*) | Micrurapteryx salcifoliella (Chambers) | Willow Leaf Blotch Miner | Gracillariidae |
| 81 | Nematocampa resistaria (Herrich-Schaffer) | Filament bearer | Geometridae | |
| 82 | Neoalcis californiaria (Packard) | Brownlined looper | Geometridae | |
| 83 | Neophasia menapia (C. & R. Felder) | Pine white | Pieridae | |
| 84 | Nepytia freemani (Munroe) | Western false hemlock looper | Geometridae | |
| 85 | Nepytia phantasmaria (Strecker) | Phantom hemlock looper | Geometridae | |
| 86 | Nymphalis antiopa (Linnaeus) | Mourningcloak butterfly or spiny elm caterpillar | Nymphalidae | |
| 87 | (*) | Operophtera bruceata (Hulst) | Bruce spanworm | Geometridae |
| 88 | Operophtera brumata (L.) | Winter moth | Geometridae | |
| 89 | (*) | Orgyia antiqua (L.) | Rusty tussock moth | Noctuidae |
| 90 | (*) | Orgyia leucostigma (J. E. Smith) | Whitemarked tussock moth | Lymantriidae |
| 91 | (*) | Orgyia pseudotsugata (McDunnough) | Douglas-fir tussock moth | Lymantriidae |
| 92 | Orthosia hibisci (Guenée) | Speckled green fruitworm | Noctuidae | |
| 93 | Paleacrita vernata (Peck) | Spring cankerworm | Geometridae | |
| 94 | (*) | Paraclemensia acerifoliella (Fitch) | Maple leafcutter | Incurvariidae |
| 95 | Pero morrisonaria (Hy. Edwards) | Pero moth | Geometridae | |
| 96 | (*) | Petrova albicapitana (Busck) | Northern pitch twig moth/Pitch nodule maker | Tortricidae |
| 97 | Petrova metallica (Busck) | Metallic pitch blister moth | Tortricidae | |
| 98 | (*) | Phyllocnistis populiella Chambers | Common Aspen Leaf Miner or Aspen Serpentine Leafmine | Gracillariidae |
| 99 | Podosesia syringae [Harr.] | Lilac borer (Ash borer) | Sesiidae | |
| 100 | Prionoxystus robiniae (Peck) | Carpenterworm | Cossidae | |
| 101 | (*) | Pseudexentera oregonana (Wlsm.) | Early Aspen Leafcurler/Leafroller | Tortricidae |
| 102 | (*) | Pseudosciaphila duplex (Walsingham) | Spotted aspen leaf roller | Tortricidae |
| 103 | (*) | Rhyacionia buoliana (Denis and Schiffermuller) | European pine shoot moth | Tortricidae |
| 104 | Semiothisa sexmaculata (Packard) | Green larch looper | Geometridae | |
| 105 | Sesia tibialis (Harris) | Cottonwood crown borer | Sesiidae | |
| 106 | (*) | Sparganothis acerivorana MacKay | Maple leafroller | Tortricidae |
| 107 | (*) | Sparganothis pettitana (Rob.) | Maple leafroller | Tortricidae |
| 108 | (*) | Symmerista canicosta Franc. | Redhumped Oakworm | Notodontidae |
| 109 | (*) | Symmerista leucitys (Franclemont) | Orangehumped Mapleworm | Notodontidae |
| 110 | Synanthedon sequoiae (Hy. Edw.) | Sequoia pitch moth | Sesiidae | |
| 111 | Syngrapha alias (Ottolengui) | Spruce climbing cutworm | Noctuidae | |
| 112 | Tetracis cachexiata (Guenée) | White slaut | Geometridae | |
| 113 | (*) | Tetralopha aplastella (Hulst.) | Aspen webworm | Pyralidae |
| 114 | Zale duplicata (Bethune) | Pine zale | Noctuidae | |
| 115 | (*) | Zeiraphera canadensis Mutuura and Freeman | Spruce bud moth | Tortricidae |
| 116 | Zeiraphera hesperiana (Mutuura & Freeman) | Douglas-fir bud moth | Tortricidae | |
| 117 | Zeiraphera improbana (Walker) | Larch needleworm | Tortricidae | |
| 118 | Zeiraphera unfortunana Powell | Purplestriped shootworm | Tortricidae | |
| 119 | Zelleria haimbachi Busck | Pine needle sheathminer | Yponomeutidae |
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