The pink bollworm (''Pectinophora gossypiella''; es, lagarta rosada) is an insect known for being a pest in

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

farming. The adult is a small, thin, gray moth with fringed wings. The larva is a dull white caterpillar with eight pairs of legs with conspicuous pink banding along its dorsum. The larva reaches one half inch in length. The female moth lays eggs in a cotton boll, and when the larvae emerge from the eggs, they inflict damage through feeding. They chew through the cotton lint to feed on the seeds. Since cotton is used for both

fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorpora ...

and

seed oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or fa ...

, the damage is twofold. Their disruption of the protective tissue around the boll is a portal of entry for other insects and fungi. The pink bollworm is native to Asia, but has become an invasive species in most of the world's cotton-growing regions. It reached the cotton belt in the southern United States by the 1920s. It was a major pest in the cotton fields of the southern California deserts. The

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

announced in 2018 that it had been eradicated from the continental United States, through the synergistic combination of using transgenic

Bt cotton Bt cotton is a genetically modified pest resistant plant cotton variety, which produces an insecticide to combat bollworm. Description Strains of the bacterium '' Bacillus thuringiensis'' produce over 200 different Bt toxins, each harmful to ...

and releasing sterile males. In parts of India, the pink bollworm is now resistant to first generation transgenic

(Bollgard cotton) that expresses a single Bt gene (Cry1Ac).

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in ...

has admitted that this variety is ineffective against the pink bollworm pest in parts of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Infestation on susceptible cotton is generally controlled with insecticides. Once a crop has been harvested, the field is plowed under as soon as possible to stop the life cycle of the new generation of pink bollworm. Unharvested bolls harbor the larvae, so these are destroyed. The plants are plowed into the earth and the fields are irrigated liberally to drown out remaining pests. Some farmers burn the stubble after harvest. Surviving bollworms will overwinter in the field and re-infest the following season. Populations of bollworms are also controlled with mating disruption, chemicals, and releases of sterile males which mate with the females but fail to fertilize their eggs. Image:Pinkbollworm.jpg, Caterpillar Image:Pectinophora_gossypiella_5006025.jpg, Illustrated Life Cycle

Footnotes

General reference

External links

Pink bollworm IPMSpecies Profile - Pink Bollworm (''Pectinophora gossypiella'')
National Invasive Species Information Center,

United States National Agricultural Library The United States National Agricultural Library (NAL) is one of the world's largest agricultural research libraries, and serves as a national library of the United States and as the library of the United States Department of Agriculture. Located ...

. Lists general information and resources for Pink Bollworm. Pexicopiini Agricultural pest insects Moths of Madagascar Moths of Africa Lepidoptera of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lepidoptera of West Africa Moths of Asia Moths of Japan Lepidoptera of Mozambique Lepidoptera of Angola Insects of Somalia Lepidoptera of Tanzania Moths of Europe Moths described in 1844 Taxa named by William Wilson Saunders {{Apatetrinae-stub