RESPONSE OF ADULT LYMANTRIID MOTHS TO ILLUMINATION DEVICES IN THE RUSSIAN FAR-EAST

In field studies in the Russian Far East, five types of illuminating devices were evaluated for attracting adult gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), pink gypsy moth, L. mathura Moore, and nun moth, L. monacha (L.). Our objective was to determine if light from commercial lamps suited to out-of-doors floodlighting could be modified to reduce their attractiveness to moths without a reduction of illumination. During 17 nights of tests, fluorescent blacklight lamps captured significantly more adults than either phosphor mercury or high-pressure sodium lamps, Captures were slightly higher for phosphor mercury than high-pressure sodium lamps but both were unattractive to all three lymantriids after the addition of filters that blocked spectral emissions <480 nm. Daily temporal periodicity, based on adult captures at lights, resulted in distinct activity patterns for the three lymantriids. Peak activity for L. dispar was between 2300 and 0100 hours; for L. mathura, 0100-0300 hours; and 0300-0500 hours for L. monacha. Temporal activity patterns suggest that L. dispar and L. monacha possess nonoverlapping diel rhythms, whereas L. mathura overlaps broadly with both L. dispar and L. monacha.