"This spring, winter moths may dominate; Severe outbreak expected in region" by Stefanie Geisler, Globe Correspondent | April 15, 2010
This spring, trillions of winter moth caterpillars are expected to nibble and chomp their way through leaves in Massachusetts. According to scientists, that population could be the highest ever seen in this area....
The winter moth has infested about a million and a half acres of trees in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New York, said George Boettner, a laboratory technician who works under Dr. Joseph Elkinton at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who is an entomology professor who focuses on population dynamics. His laboratory has been studying winter moths since 2004.
Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island have been hit hardest.
I'm sure it is because of your global warming, air-breather!
Because it is not native to this area, the winter moth has no natural predators.
Related: Battling the Asian Beetle in New England
Yeah, AIN'T GLOBALIZATION GRAND?
But (sigh) for the past five years, researchers at Elkinton’s lab have been trying out a solution that has worked in Europe, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia.
“We know how to combat it,’’ Boettner said. “This moth is in Europe, and it is actually controlled by a species-specific fly that hunts it down.’’
And that will in turn cause what other unintended consequence?
I sometimes wish we had just let God and Mother Nature play things out their way; of course, they are doing that anyway even as I type this.
The parasitic flies, known as Cyzenis albicans, are attracted to the saliva of winter moth caterpillars. They lay their eggs where a caterpillar is feeding.
This is kind of cool:
“The caterpillar then consumes the egg, which is teeny tiny,’’ Boettner said. “It hatches within 15 minutes and basically just hangs out there while the caterpillar gets fatter.’’
The fly begins to devour the caterpillar from the inside, eventually killing it....
Sort of like what ISRAEL DOES onto any nation to which it affixes itself.
I believe its called a PARASITE!
“The flies are completely tied to their host,’’ Boettner said. “Their only mission in life is to hunt down winter moths and lay eggs in front of them.’’
Yeah, that's who you are hosting, America.
No wonder you have been hollowed out in so many ways.
Haven't heard anything out there yet; maybe the rains have kept them quiet.
