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Cutworm
Cutworms are moth larvae that hide under litter or soil during the day, coming out in the dark to feed on plants. A larva typically attacks the first part of the plant it encounters, namely the stem, often of a seedling, and consequently cuts it down; hence the name ''cutworm''. Cutworms are not worms, biologically speaking, but caterpillars. Feeding and hiding Cutworm larvae vary in their feeding behaviour; some remain with the plant they cut down and feed on it, while others often move on after eating a small amount from a felled seedling; such a wasteful mode of feeding results in disproportionate damage to crops. Cutworms accordingly are serious pests to gardeners in general, but to vegetable and grain farmers in particular. For example, it has been suggested that in South Africa for one, ''Agrotis segetum'' is the second worst pest of maize.Smit, Bernard, "Insects in South Africa: How to Control them", Pub: Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 1964. Note that the cutworm mod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agrotis Ipsilon
''Agrotis ipsilon'', the dark sword-grass, black cutworm, greasy cutworm, floodplain cutworm or ipsilon dart, is a small noctuid moth found worldwide. The moth gets its scientific name from black markings on its forewings shaped like the letter "Y" or the Greek letter upsilon. The larvae are known as "cutworms" because they cut plants and other crops. The larvae are serious agricultural pests and feed on nearly all varieties of vegetables and many important grains.Capinera, John L"Common Name: Black Cutworm" ''Entomology and Nematology'', University of Florida, October 2006. This species is a seasonal migrant that travels north in the spring and south in the fall to escape extreme temperatures in the summer and winter. The migration patterns reflect how reproduction occurs in the spring and ceases in the fall. Females release sex pheromones to attract males for mating. Pheromone production and release in females and pheromone responsiveness in males is dependent on the juvenile h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peridroma Saucia
''Peridroma saucia'', the pearly underwing or variegated cutworm, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1808. It is found in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The variegated cutworm feeds on many plants, especially common fruits and vegetables. The moth undergoes two to four generations per year. The development of the moth slows in colder temperatures, indicative of its migratory nature. All stages of the life cycle have a developmental threshold for temperature. The moth is known to migrate to the northern regions during warmer months, returning to the southern regions when the climate becomes colder. The variegated cutworm has a number of wasp and fly parasites, which account for most of the larval deaths each year. The female ''P. saucia'' produces a sex pheromone to attract male moths. Most notably, the variegated cutworm is known as one of the most damaging garden pests. The larvae cause considerable damage t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turnip Moth
''Agrotis segetum'', sometimes known as the turnip moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is a common European species and it is found in Africa and across Eurasia except for the northernmost parts. It is a cutworm in the genus ''Agrotis'', which possibly is the genus that includes the largest number of species of cutworms. Common names It is usually known as the common cutworm in English. It is sometimes called the turnip moth in the United Kingdom. Description This is a very variable species with the fore-wings ranging from pale buff through to almost black. The paler forms have three dark-bordered stigmata on each fore-wing. Antennae of male bipectinated (comb like on both sides) with moderate length branches. The main feature distinguishing it from other ''Agrotis'' species is the shade of the hind-wings, pure white in the males and pearly grey in the females. The wingspan is 32–42 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serrodes Partita
''Serrodes partita'', the catapult moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. It is found in western, eastern, central and southern Africa, India, Indonesia (Borneo, Java) and Sri Lanka. Description The wingspan of the adults is approximately 60 mm. Head, thorax and forewings dark or red or greyish brown. Forewings with a sub-basal dark red-brown spot on the costa, with a line from its lower edge. A similar antemedial spot and large lunule found below the cell with a highly excurved line from its lower edge. Reniform broken up into a number of tessellated spots with pale edges, and with rufous marks on the costa above it. A double straight postmedial line angled below the costa. Abdomen and hindwings are fuscous. Hindwings have traces of a medial pale line. Cilia paler at apex and anal angle. They feed on plants such as ''Prunus persica'', ''Sapindus saponaria'', '' Sapindus trifoliatus'', ''Pappea capensis' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noctuidae
The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other families of the Noctuoidea. It was considered the largest family in Lepidoptera for a long time, but after regrouping Lymantriinae, Catocalinae and Calpinae within the family Erebidae, the latter holds this title now. Currently, Noctuidae is the second largest family in Noctuoidea, with about 1,089 genera and 11,772 species. This classification is still contingent, as more changes continue to appear between Noctuidae and Erebidae. Description Adult: Most noctuid adults have drab wings, but some subfamilies, such as Acronictinae and Agaristinae, are very colorful, especially those from tropical regions (e.g. '' Baorisa hieroglyphica''). They are characterized by a structure in the metathorax called the nodular sclerite or epaulette, whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agrotis Segetum
''Agrotis segetum'', sometimes known as the turnip moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is a common European species and it is found in Africa and across Eurasia except for the northernmost parts. It is a cutworm in the genus ''Agrotis'', which possibly is the genus that includes the largest number of species of cutworms. Common names It is usually known as the common cutworm in English. It is sometimes called the turnip moth in the United Kingdom. Description This is a very variable species with the fore-wings ranging from pale buff through to almost black. The paler forms have three dark-bordered stigmata on each fore-wing. Antennae of male bipectinated (comb like on both sides) with moderate length branches. The main feature distinguishing it from other ''Agrotis'' species is the shade of the hind-wings, pure white in the males and pearly grey in the females. The wingspan is 32–42 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agricultural Pest Insects
A pest is any animal or plant harmful to humans or human concerns. The term is particularly used for creatures that damage crops, livestock, and forestry or cause a nuisance to people, especially in their homes. Humans have modified the environment for their own purposes and are intolerant of other creatures occupying the same space when their activities impact adversely on human objectives. Thus, an elephant is unobjectionable in its natural habitat but a pest when it tramples crops. Some animals are disliked because they bite or sting; snakes, wasps, ants, bed bugs, fleas and ticks belong in this category. Others enter the home; these include houseflies, which land on and contaminate food, beetles, which tunnel into the woodwork, and other animals that scuttle about on the floor at night, like cockroaches, which are often associated with unsanitary conditions. Agricultural and horticultural crops are attacked by a wide variety of pests, the most important being insects, mite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eulophidae
The Eulophidae are a large family of hymenopteran insects, with over 4,300 described species in some 300 genera. The family includes the genus ''Elasmus'', which used to be treated as a separate family, "Elasmidae", and is now treated as a subfamily of Eulophidae. These minute insects are challenging to study, as they deteriorate rapidly after death unless extreme care is taken (e.g., preservation in ethanol), making identification of most museum specimens difficult. The larvae of a very few species feed on plants, but the majority are primary parasitoids on a huge range of arthropods at all stages of development. They are exceptional in that they are one of two hymenopteran families with some species that are known to parasitize thrips. Eulophids are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats (one is even aquatic, parasitising water-penny beetles). Eulophids are separable from most other Chalcidoidea by the possession of only four tarsomeres on each leg, a small, st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tachinidae
The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have been described in North America alone. Insects in this family commonly are called tachinid flies or simply tachinids. As far as is known, they all are protelean parasitoids, or occasionally parasites, of arthropods, usually other insects. The family is known from many habitats in all zoogeographical regions and is especially diverse in South America. Life cycle Reproductive strategies vary greatly between Tachinid species, largely, but not always clearly, according to their respective life cycles. This means that they tend to be generalists rather than specialists. Comparatively few are restricted to a single host species, so there is little tendency towards the close co-evolution one finds in the adaptations of many specialist species to their hosts, such as are typical of protelean parasito ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ichneumonidae
The Ichneumonidae, also known as the ichneumon wasps, Darwin wasps, or ichneumonids, are a family (biology), family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 25,000 species currently described. However, this likely represents less than a quarter of their true Species richness, richness as reliable estimates are lacking, along with much of the most basic knowledge about their ecology, Species distribution, distribution, and evolution.Quicke, D. L. J. (2015). The braconid and ichneumonid parasitoid wasps: biology, systematics, evolution and ecology. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Ichneumonid wasps, with very few exceptions, attack the immature stages of Holometabolism, holometabolous insects and spiders, eventually killing their hosts. They thus fulfill an important role as regulators of insect populations, both in natural and semi-natural systems, making them promising agents for Biological p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Braconidae
The Braconidae are a family of parasitoid wasps. After the closely related Ichneumonidae, braconids make up the second-largest family in the order Hymenoptera, with about 17,000 recognized species and many thousands more undescribed. One analysis estimated a total between 30,000 and 50,000, and another provided a narrower estimate between 42,000 and 43,000 species. Classification The Braconidae are currently divided into about 47 subfamilies and over 1000 genera, which include ''Aerophilus'', ''Aleiodes'', '' Apanteles'', ''Asobara'', '' Bracon'', ''Cenocoelius'', '' Chaenusa'', ''Chorebus'', '' Cotesia'', '' Dacnusa'', '' Diachasma'', ''Microgaster'', ''Opius'', ''Parapanteles'', '' Phaenocarpa'', ''Spathius'', and ''Syntretus.'' These fall into two major groups, informally called the cyclostomes and noncyclostomes. In cyclostome braconids, the labrum and the lower part of the clypeus are concave with respect to the upper clypeus and the dorsal margin of the mandibles. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compost
Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting mixture is rich in plant nutrients and beneficial organisms, such as bacteria, protozoa, nematodes and fungi. Compost improves soil fertility in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, urban agriculture, and organic farming, reducing dependency on commercial chemical fertilizers. The benefits of compost include providing nutrients to crops as fertilizer, acting as a soil conditioner, increasing the humus or humic acid contents of the soil, and introducing beneficial microbes that help to suppress pathogens in the soil and reduce soil-borne diseases. At the simplest level, composting requires gathering a mix of 'greens' (green waste) and 'browns' (brown waste). Greens are materials rich in nitrogen such as leaves, grass, and food scraps. Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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