An auto-contamination trap-strips system for biological control of Hyphantria cunea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), an invasive pest in China

ABSTRACT

The fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea (Drury) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae), is a major invasive pest in China, where it seriously threatens fruit and ornamental trees and windbreak systems. An auto-contamination trap-strips system was designed to disseminate Beauveria bassiana for biological control. The standard trap consisted of a yellow or green trap with a width no larger than 30 cm and with B. bassiana inside it. Therefore, the trap-strips provided an appropriate microenvironment for the fall webworm to pupate, and an acceptable humidity for B. bassiana to infect and reproduce. The average infection rates of the trap-strips systems were more than 90%. The present study demonstrated a practical application of how physical and biological control of this pest can be conducted efficiently and economically.

KEYWORDS:

• Hyphantria cunea
• Beauveria bassiana
• trap strip
• auto-contamination
• biological control
• invasive pest
• entomopathogenic fungus

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Professor Du Kejiu for insightful comments. This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China 2017YFD0200400, The State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents (grant number ChineseIPM1612), Science and Technology Service Network Initiative of Chinese Academy Science (grant number KFJ-EW-STS-143) and Hebei Science and Technology Department (grant number 15226503D).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China 2017YFD0200400, The State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents [grant number ChineseIPM1612]; Science and Technology Service Network Initiative of Chinese Academy Science [grant number KFJ-EW-STS-143; Hebei Science and Technology Department [grant number 15226503D].