THE WINTER MOTH, OPEROPHTERA BRUMATA (LEPIDOPTERA: GEOMETRIDAE), A NEW PEST ATTACKING APPLE ORCHARDS IN NOVA SCOTIA, AND ITS COLDHARDINESS

1967 ◽  
Vol 99 (8) ◽  
pp. 829-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W. MacPhee

AbstractThe winter moth, Operophtera brumata (L.), a recent introduction to North America, is a serious pest of apple in Nova Scotia. Natural controls, mainly the parasite Cyzenis albicans (Fall.), reduce its rate of increase, and selective chemical controls are applied to maintain economic levels. Its maximum density is limited by its food supply in neglected orchards. The mean freezing point of O. brumata winter eggs is −31°F. Egg mortality increases appreciably with increase of duration of exposure to low temperatures in the −26°F to −34°F vulnerable range. It seems probable that winter moth will continue to spread slowly over much of Eastern North America.

1954 ◽  
Vol 86 (10) ◽  
pp. 433-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Morris ◽  
W. A. Reeks

The winter moth, Operophtera brumata (Linn.), was not known to occur in North America until 1949, when it was first reported from the south shore of Nova Scotia by Hawholdt and Cuming (2) and Smith (4). By that time this introduced species was well established. It is suspected that the winter moth in association with the fall cankerworm, Alsophila pometaria (Harr.), has been causing considerable defoliation of deciduous tree species in the region since the early 1930's (2). The habits and stages of the winter moth have been described briefly by Smith (S), who also has indicated the important differences between the winter moth and the fall cankerworm (4).


1972 ◽  
Vol 104 (8) ◽  
pp. 1197-1207 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Morris

AbstractThe number of predators inhabiting nests of Hyphantria cunea Drury was recorded annually for 13 years in four areas in New Brunswick and two areas on the coast of Nova Scotia. The most common groups were the pentatomids and spiders, which sometimes reproduced within the nests, but the mean number per nest was low in relation to the number of H. cunea larvae in the colonies. The rate of predation on fifth-instar larvae was low. Small or timid predators appeared to prey largely on moribund larvae or small saprophagans during the principal defoliating instars of H. cunea.No relationship could be detected between the number of larvae reaching the fifth instar and the number of predators in the colony; nor could any functional or numerical response of the predators to either the initial number of larvae per colony or the population density of colonies be found. It is concluded that the influence of the nest-inhabiting predators is small and relatively stable, and may be treated as a constant in the development of models to explain the population dynamics of H. cunea.H. cunea is a pest in parts of Europe and Asia, where it has been accidentally introduced from North America. The introduction to other continents of the North American predator, Podisus maculiventiis (Say), is discussed briefly.


Author(s):  
P. F. Cannon

Abstract A description is provided for Isthmiella faullii. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Apparently confined to Abies balsamea. DISEASE: Causes a needle blight of Abies balsamea. According to Darker (1932), it 'is the commonest and most destructive of the Hypodermataceae on Abies balsamea in eastern North America'. It is particularly damaging to seedlings and juvenile plants. In northern Ontario, from where the disease was originally identified, infection occurs during the summer, but signs of the disease do not appear until the following spring, when needles become brown and conidiomata develop, conidia being discharged in July, and shortly after this ascomata begin to form, maturing in July of the following year. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Reported from Canada: Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and USA: Michigan and New Hampshire. TRANSMISSION: Through air dispersal of ascospores, which directly infect the leaves (Darker, 1932).


1960 ◽  
Vol 92 (11) ◽  
pp. 862-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. G. Embree

Cyzenis albicans (Fall.) has been introduced into Nova Scotia as a control measure against the winter moth, Operophtera brumata (L.). The parasite attacks the late larval stages of the winter moth, pupates within the host in the ground, and emerges in the spring. The first liberations were made at Oak Hill near Bridgewater and the dates of releases as well as the numbers released were reported by Graham (1958) as follows: 1954, 31; 1955, 1008; 1956, 1005; 1957, 250. Graham made recoveries of C. albicans from rearings of larvae collected at Oak Hill in 1956 and 1957 and found that parasitism was less than two per cent both years. While liberations have been made at other locations in the Province since 1957, no further releases have been made at or near Oak Hill.


1958 ◽  
Vol 90 (10) ◽  
pp. 595-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. Graham

Five species of parasites reared from European material were released at Oak Hill, near Bridgewater, Nova Scotia from 1954 to 1956 as biotic agents against the winter moth, Operophtera brumata (L.) which had been established in Nova Scotia since before 1950. Recovery collections were made annually from 1955 to 1957. This work is still in progress, and in 1957 releases were made in four additional localities. Results of establishment of parasites from releases from 1954 to 1956 are reported below.


1989 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Barron

AbstractAgrypon flaveolatum (Gravenhorst), introduced from Europe to control the winter moth, Operophtera brumata (L.), on apple and oak in Nova Scotia and British Columbia, was distinguished from the closely related native species, A. provancheri (Dalla Torre) and A. alaskensis (Ashmead). A detailed study of the three species revealed that they could be distinguished by specific morphological characters and by results of morphometric analyses of intra- and inter-specific variation of number of annuli of the antennal flagellum. The history of introductions of both the host and parasite is reviewed, including an account of host–parasite interactions. All of the characters defining species entities were found to be correlated with differences in host insect, host plant, and distribution.


Author(s):  
Jeremy Andersen ◽  
Nathan Havill ◽  
Adalgisa Caccone ◽  
Joseph Elkinton

Reconstructing the geographic origins of invasive species is critical for establishing effective management strategies. Frequently, molecular investigations are undertaken when the source population is not known, however; these analyses are constrained both by the amount of diversity present in the native region and by changes in the genetic background of the invading population following bottlenecks and/or hybridization events. Here we explore the geographical origins of the invasive winter moth (Operopthera brumata L.) that has caused widespread defoliation to forests, orchards, and crops in four discrete regions: Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Oregon, and the northeastern United States. It is not known whether these represent independent introductions to North America, or “stepping stone” spread among regions. Using a combination of Bayesian assignment and approximate Bayesian computation methods, we analyzed a population genetic dataset of 24 polymorphic microsatellite loci. We estimate that winter moth was introduced to North America on at least four occasions, with the Nova Scotian and British Columbian populations likely being introduced from France and Sweden, respectively; the Oregonian population likely being introduced from either the British Isles or northern Fennoscandia; and the population in the northeastern United States likely being introduced from somewhere in Central Europe. To our surprise, we found that hybridization has not played a large role in the establishment of winter moth populations even though previous reports have documented widespread hybridization between winter moth and a native congener. We discuss the impact of genetic bottlenecks on analyses meant to determine region of origin.


1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (12) ◽  
pp. 2762-2769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin S. Lapp ◽  
E. von Rudloff

Leaf terpenes of 420 jack pines from 43 sites (Petawawa provenances) in eastern North America were analyzed by gas–liquid chromatography (GLC). In most trees the major components were α-pinene, β-pinene, myrcene, car-3-ene, limonene, β-phellandrene, and bornyl acetate. Eighteen other monoterpenes were identified and 13 sesquiterpenes were characterized by their spectral properties and GLC retention times. These data were analyzed by centroid cluster analysis of the mean-squared Euclidean distances, which showed that jack pine is a diverse species of two major terpene types with eight minor types and a few outlying individual trees. With the exception that the minor clusters and outliers tend to occur at the fringes of the jack pine range, there is no obvious geographic pattern to these clusters.


1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 2027-2039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen W. Archer ◽  
John H. Calder ◽  
Martin R. Gibling ◽  
Robert D. Naylor ◽  
Donald R. Reid ◽  
...  

The sea cliffs at Joggins, Nova Scotia, are the most extensive and continuous Carboniferous section in eastern North America. Although the section has been considered to have formed within a nonmarine depositional basin, paleobiological information indicates that parts of the section were deposited in brackish water. The occurrence of a trace-fossil assemblage, which includes Cochlichnus, Kouphichnium, and Treptichnus, is part of an assemblage of biogenic structures that apparently reflects paleodeposition within fluvial systems that may have experienced distal marine influences. Presence of agglutinated foraminifera characteristic of brackish-water environments supports this interpretation. This information provides new evidence of brackish-water conditions at Joggins such as those now being widely recognized in other Carboniferous coal-bearing sections.


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