![SWCB life stages](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/SWCB_life_stages.jpg)
The southwestern corn borer, ''Diatraea grandiosella'', is a
moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
belonging to the sub-order
Heterocera
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
. Like most
moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
s, The southwestern corn borer undergoes
complete metamorphosis
Holometabolism, also called complete metamorphosis, is a form of insect development which includes four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and imago (or adult). Holometabolism is a synapomorphic trait of all insects in the superorder Endopterygo ...
developing as an egg,
larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
...
(
caterpillar),
pupa
A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...
and adult. It is capable of entering
diapause
In animal dormancy, diapause is the delay in development in response to regular and recurring periods of adverse environmental conditions.Tauber, M.J., Tauber, C.A., Masaki, S. (1986) ''Seasonal Adaptations of Insects''. Oxford University Press I ...
in its larva stage and under the conditions of a precise
photoperiod. Growth and development are regulated by juvenile hormones. The southwestern corn borer has an extensive range. It occurs in Mexico and in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
Known host plants of ''D. grandiosella'' include
sugarcane,
forage
Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used ...
and grain
sorghums,
broomcorn, and
Johnsongrass,
teosinte, and
millet well as
field corn Field corn, also known as cow corn, is a North American term for maize (''Zea mays'') grown for livestock fodder (silage), ethanol, cereal, and processed food products. The principal field corn varieties are dent corn, flint corn, flour corn (also ...
,
popcorn, and
sweetcorn. It remains a serious agricultural pest of corn (
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...
).
Pest control
Infestation is sometimes controlled by the use of
pheromone trap
A pheromone trap is a type of insect trap that uses pheromones to lure insects. Sex pheromones and aggregating pheromones are the most common types used. A pheromone-impregnated lure, as the red rubber septa in the picture, is encased in a convent ...
s that lure adult male moths. The practice of carefully timed planting dates, use of early maturing varieties, and the destruction of crop residues are well-established methods for suppressing populations of borer on many crops. ''
Bacillus thuringiensis'', a
bacterium
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were amon ...
, is often applied as a
pesticide. Chemical pesticides continue to be used for infestation control.
Efforts have been underway to breed strains of corn (
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...
) that are resistant to the southwestern corn borer. The USDA has documented an increase in corn production when
genetically engineered
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...
corn, resistant to corn borers, was grown in place of non-genetically engineered corn. Under biological control practices, a variety of methods can be used against the borer at one time. This would include the introduction of predators or parasites.
[Bale, F; van Lenteren; Bigler (27 February 2008). "Biological control and sustainable food production". ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences'' 363 (1492): 761–776. . .]
Nocturnal insectivores often feed on moths; these include some
bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...
s, some species of
owls and other species of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
s. Moths are also eaten by some species of
lizards,
cat
The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
s,
dog
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...
s,
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...
s, and some
bears. Moth larvae are vulnerable to being
parasitized by
Ichneumonidae
The Ichneumonidae, also known as the ichneumon wasps, Darwin wasps, or ichneumonids, are a 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 cur ...
.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7571456
Chiloini
Agricultural pest insects
Moths described in 1911
Moths of North America
Crambidae
Taxa named by Harrison Gray Dyar Jr.
Insect pests of millets