PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds

PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds
ORDER LEPIDOPTERA
Butterflies, moths
NO. SPECIES
IN AUSTRALIA
SOME
DISTINCTIVE
FEATURES
Moths vary in size
more than any
other insect group.
A Hercules moth
has a wingspan of
30 cm while that
of a leafminer
may be only 3 mm
Larvae are
commonly known
as caterpillars
LIFE CYCLE
In excess of 20,000 species in Australia. The second largest of the insect
orders after the Coleoptera. Some butterflies are listed as endangered species in
some states and Butterfly Action Plans have been put in place (Piper 2001).
Butterflies are included in the Flora for Fauna project (page 81).
www.ento.csiro.au/education/insects/lepidoptera.html
www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_moths/index.html
Lepidoptera larvae of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-114644
ADULT Wings 1. Two pairs large wings. A few moths are wingless.
2. Densely covered with minute overlapping scales.
Mouth
Eyes
Mouthparts in the form of an elongated tube, coiled like
a watch spring when at rest. There are a few exceptions.
Large compound eyes. One occeli above each eye.
As a rule of thumb:
BUTTERFLIES are day flying with clubbed antennae,
brightly colored. Wings vertical when at rest.
There are a few exceptions.
MOTHS are night flying, antennae are other than clubbed,
often feathery in males, often drab when colored.
Wings flat when at rest. There are a few exceptions.
LARVA Legs 3 pairs of legs on thoracic segments and up to
5 pairs of unsegmented prolegs on abdominal
segments. Prolegs have a ring of fine hooks on the end.
Mouth Chewing.
PUPA Often in a silken cocoon (moths) usually a chrysalis (butterflies).
There is a complete metamorphosis - egg, larva (armyworm, bagworm,
bollworm, borer, budworm, caterpillar, cluster grub, cutworm, grub,
inchworm, looper, ‘worm’), pupa and adult.
Large
citrus
butterfly
Males have a
wingspan of
up to 120 mm
Many variations,
eg codling moth,
moth borers,
cutworms
METHOD OF
FEEDING
ADULT
LARVA
Feeds only on nectar or other liquids of flowering plants using a
long coiled tube (proboscis). Some adults do not feed at all.
Chewing mouthparts, feeds almost exclusively on plant tissue.
Vast majority feed on foliage or wood. Some are carnivorous,
feeding on other caterpillars and soft-bodied insects, eg ant larvae.
78 Insects and allied pests - Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths)