- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You can be an understudy or you can be an underwing.
Or underfoot.
Have you ever seen an underwing, a moth in the family Erebidae?
Today one dropped out of a tree, landing on my feet in a Vacaville park. It just missed being a part of our National Moth Week celebration.
This one was both colorful and drab (see below). The species may be the sweetheart underwing, Catocala amatrix.
"Yes, too worn for certain ID," says butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology. "But certainly a Catocala--several species are common in creek-bottom habitats."
Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, and entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart, noticed the tattered wings right away.
"I'd say it has a lot of mileage," Kimsey quipped.
It wasn't flying or fluttering, but dropping and hopping.
And sometimes you find it underfoot.
Interested in moths? Check out the Bohart Museum's home page to access videos about moths and butterflies by Smith and fellow Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas. Next year, if all goes well on the pandemic front, the Bohart may host a National Moth Night again.
/span>/span>- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The two-day fair, downsized from years past, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 30 and Sunday, July 1. Admission is free; parking is $5 per vehicle. (See schedule.)
At McCormack Hall, youth and adult exhibitors are displaying such projects as an insect-themed afghan, photographs of insects; a photograph of a "spider girl"; and a wall hanging of a dragonfly crafted from fan blades and furniture legs.
McCormack Hall superintendent Gloria Gonzalez, a community leader of the Sherwood Forest 4-H Club, Vallejo, marveled at a bumble bee and other patterns on a Minnesota sampler crocheted afghan, the work of Debra Holter of San Pablo.
The wall hanging of the dragonfly, the work of Tina Saravia of Suisun City, is also drawing interest. Using her imagination and recyclables, Saravia crafted it primarily with fan blades and furniture legs. It's entered in the adult recycling class,
Gary Cullen of Vallejo entered a photo that he titled "Spider Girl," of a smiling girl with a spiderish facial costume.
Ryan Anenson of the Tremont 4-H Club, Dixon, who is enrolled in a beekeeping project, submitted a close-up image of a honey bee. Maya Prunty of Sacramento 4-H submitted an image of a moth.
Those are just a few of the arthropod-related exhibits at the fair. Some of the items are available for purchase in the fair's Competitive Exhibits Program. The highest bidder in the silent auction takes home the exhibit.
That will include the honey bee image by teenage beekeeper Ryan Anenson.
Clothes moth larvae attack wool clothing, carpets, rugs, upholstered furniture, furs, and much more. They will even feed on synthetic or cotton blends of fabric if they also contain wool.
Sometimes people mistake clothes moths for pantry pests (food and grain-infesting moths). Clothes moths are small, about ¼ long, and only flutter about the area they have infested, typically around around bedrooms and where clothes are stored. Pantry pest moths are larger, and usually found around the kitchen and pantry where food is stored.
If you believe you have clothes moths in your house, read about management techniques at UC IPM Pest Notes: Clothes Moths.
- Author: Ben Faber
Leafminer, sometimes Leaf Miner. It's that time of year. Those little moths come out in the late afternoon and flit about. They lay their eggs and when they hatch the larvae start burrowing through the leaf. The recent heat and also the generally warm summer have set them off. And it is obvious now. The heat has exacerbated the collapse and drying of the leaves and on older trees it looks like trees have been decorated with a sprinkling of light brownish ornaments. It is disturbing. But it's not the end of the world, like …………ACP can be.
Leafminer adults are tiny moths less than 0.12 in long (2 mm) with wings span twice as wide.
Pretty shocking from a distance
Citrus leafminer larvae feed by creating shallow tunnels, referred to as mines, in young leaves. It is most commonly found on citrus (oranges, mandarins, lemons, limes, grapefruit and other varieties) and closely related trees (kumquat and calamondin). The larvae mine the lower or upper surface of the leaves causing them to curl and look distorted. Mature citrus trees (more than 4 years old) generally tolerate leaf damage without any effect on tree growth or fruit yield. Citrus leafminer is likely to cause damage in nurseries and new plantings because the growth of young trees is retarded by leafminer infestations. However, even when infestations of citrus leafminer are heavy on young trees, trees are unlikely to die. But they can sure struggle pushing new leaves that then get attacked anew.
Several years ago, we did a trial where we sprayed mature trees with leafminers every month for 18 months with a rotation of different chemicals and even the most heavily treated trees had some damage on them. The most heavily infested trees looked horrible, but in that period of time there were no lemon yield differences. Young trees treated with a systemic were able to free themselves of infestation. This has been commented on by others, that soil applied systemics on heavier soils can have problems controlling leafminers.
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r107303211.html
Photos: Tunnels and the rapidly dried leaf after a heat spell
- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
UC Cooperative Extension has augmented efforts to monitor armyworm populations in rice fields since 2015 when we observed large populations earlier in the year (June) than previously observed. Here in San Joaquin County, we began monitoring in Delta rice fields a couple weeks ago. We are cooperating with rice farm advisors in the Sacramento Valley to get a more comprehensive assessment of the populations. Figure 1 shows moth counts from last week. The Delta count is the single orange data point at about 36 moths/day. Compare that to the Sacramento Valley where there have been similarly high moth catches in Colusa and Glenn counties.
These counts illustrate that it is important to be monitoring fields for worm feeding. The UC IPM guidelines for monitoring and treatment are excerpted below. In general, at the foliar stage, if half of the sampled plants have at least 25 percent defoliation from feeding, and worms are visible, then treatment is probably warranted. At the panicle stage, if 10 percent of the panicles are damaged and worms are present, then treatment may be warranted.
Armyworm larvae will grow to full size and pupate in about 3 to 4 weeks. That said, it is important to monitor fields now and later in the summer in case the current generation reproduces and a new generation develops when panicles are present.
In 2016, UC Cooperative Extension worked with the California Rice Commission to get an emergency approval for the use of Intrepid 2F (methoxyfenozide) in affected rice counties, including San Joaquin County. The 2017 application has not yet been approved, so we do not currently have this product available for rice. Please see the UC IPM guidelines for a list of registered products. I will provide an update on future moth trapping counts and product approvals as the information becomes available.
From UC IPM: Rice Armyworm Monitoring and Treatment
Foliar Injury: Monitor for foliar injury from panicle differentiation to heading by looking for signs of armyworms feeding on leaves. Once you begin to observe injury, start taking samples twice a week until grain start maturing or larvae are no longer present. To sample, choose a part of the field where you have observed injury. Select a plant at random and pull it up or move all the surrounding foliage away and check for defoliation. Check the plant from the top of the leaves to the base of the plant and the water surface for armyworms. Determine if 25% or more of the foliage has been removed by armyworms; also note if you find armyworms on neighboring weeds or rice plants. Record your observations on a monitoring form. Repeat this procedure every 5 to 10 feet (1.5–3 m) across a transect until 10 plants have been examined. Move to a different part of the field where feeding is evident and examine 10 more plants in the same manner. Repeat this procedure at several areas of the field until you are confident that you have an estimate of the average field condition.
Panicle Loss: Monitor for panicle loss after panicle emergence by checking for entire panicles or parts of panicles that have turned white; these indicate armyworm feeding. Be sure to differentiate this injury from stem rot, which may kill the entire panicle and darken the stems. Once you begin to observe armyworm injury to the panicle, take samples twice a week to determine the need for treatment. Use a sampling ring made of plastic tubing that encloses 1 square foot. Select your sampling sites in parts of the field with white panicles. Drop the ring at your side without looking. Examine all the plants within the ring down to the water level for armyworms; at the same time check for stem rot. Record the number of panicles and the percentage of them that are white and the presence or absence of armyworms within the ring. Move on 5 to 10 feet and repeat the procedure until 10 samples have been taken. Move to another area of the field with signs of panicle injury and take 10 more samples. Repeat the 10-sample procedure until you feel that you have a good estimate of the field condition.
Treatment Decisions: From panicle differentiation through heading, treat for foliar damage only in those areas of the field where 5 or more of the 10 samples taken have over 25% defoliation and armyworms are present on the plants. If you observe a few or no armyworms, come back at night to check for the larvae, which are more active after dark. Do not treat if armyworms are not present, especially during late August, because they have probably completed development.
From panicle emergence to grain maturity, treat for panicle loss if 10% of the panicles in the area sampled are damaged and armyworms are observed. If armyworms are not observed but panicle loss is 10% or more, check for the larvae at night. If larvae are not found, do not treat because they have probably pupated and will do no further damage. Limit treatments to those areas of the field with economic damage.