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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Hilo, Hawaii » Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center » Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #357385
Research Project: Detection, Control and Area-wide Management of Fruit Flies and Other Quarantine Pests of Tropical/Subtropical Crops

Location: Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research

Title: Catch of the green garden looper moth, Chrysodeixis eriosoma (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), in sweetpotato fields in Hawaii

Author
item McQuate, Grant
item Sylva, Charmaine

Submitted to: Hawaiian Entomological Society Proceedings
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/20/2018
Publication Date: 11/27/2018
Citation: McQuate, G.T., Sylva, C.D. 2018. Catch of the green garden looper moth, Chrysodeixis eriosoma (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), in sweetpotato fields in Hawaii. Hawaiian Entomological Society Proceedings. 50:43-53. Available online at http://hdl.handle.net/10125/59367.

Interpretive Summary: Sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatus (L.) Lamarck, one of the top ten staple crops produced worldwide, was the top volume-producing vegetable crop in Hawaii in 2017. As with all crops, sweetpotato is subject to a wide range of insect pests. While conducting research on one sweetpotato pest in Hawaii, the sweetpotato vine borer (Omphisa anastomosalis Guenée), we discovered that the green garden looper, Chrysodeixis eriosoma (Doubleday), was present in sweetpotato fields in Hawaii and was caught in traps baited with a lure attractive to sweetpotato vine borer males. The green garden looper caterpillar is a generalist feeder that has the potential to damage a range of both vegetable and ornamental crops in Hawaii. Herein we report on the nontarget catch of C.eriosoma, including documenting the effect of spatial trap location and trap height on trap catch. We also demonstrate that a commercially available lure formulated for C.chalcites is an effective detection/monitoring tool for adult moths of the green garden looper in Hawaii, as had previously been demonstrated in New Zealand.

Technical Abstract: Sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatus (L.) Lamarck, one of the top ten staple crops produced worldwide, was the top volume-producing vegetable crop in Hawaii in 2017. While conducting research on sweetpotato pests in Hawaii, we discovered that the green garden looper, Chrysodeixis eriosoma (Doubleday), was present in sweetpotato fields in Hawaii and we had recurrent nontarget catch in traps baited with a binary pheromone lure for the sweetpotato vine borer, Omphisa anastomosalis Guenée. The green garden looper caterpillar is a generalist feeder that has the potential to damage a range of both vegetable and ornamental crops in Hawaii. Herein we report on the nontarget catch of C.eriosoma, including documenting the effect of spatial trap location and trap height on trap catch. We also demonstrate that a commercially available lure formulated for C.chalcites is an effective detection/monitoring tool for C.eriosoma in Hawaii, as had previously been demonstrated in New Zealand.