Spruce budworm

For the species with the common name "spruce budworm", see Choristoneura orae.

Choristoneura
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Mountain-ash tortricid Choristoneura hebenstreitella
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Tortricidae
Subfamily:	Tortricinae
Tribe:	Archipini
Genus:	Choristoneura Lederer, 1859
Species
Several, see text.
Synonyms
Cornicacoecia Obraztsov, 1954 Hoshinoa Kawabe, 1965

Spruce budworms and relatives are a group of closely related insects in the genus Choristoneura. Most are serious pests of conifers. There are nearly forty Choristoneura species, and even more subspecies, or forms, with a complexity of variation among populations found throughout much of the United States and Canada, and about again this number in Eurasia.

Species

• Choristoneura adumbratanus (Walsingham, 1900)
• Choristoneura africana Razowski, 2002
• Choristoneura albaniana (Walker, 1863)
• Choristoneura argentifasciata Heppner, 1989
• Choristoneura biennis Freeman, 1967
• Choristoneura bracatana (Rebel, in Rebel & Rogenhofer, 1894)
• Choristoneura carnana (Barnes & Busck, 1920)
• Choristoneura chapana Razowski, 2008
• Choristoneura colyma Razowski, 2006
• Choristoneura conflictana (Walker, 1863)
• Choristoneura diversana (Hubner, [1814-1817])
• Choristoneura evanidana (Kennel, 1901)
• Choristoneura expansiva X.P.Wang & G.J.Yang, 2008
• Choristoneura ferrugininotata Obraztsov, 1968
• Choristoneura fractivittana (Clemens, 1865)
• Choristoneura freemani Razowski, 2008, western spruce budworm
• Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens, 1865), eastern spruce budworm
• Choristoneura griseicoma (Meyrick, 1924)
• Choristoneura hebenstreitella (Muller, 1764), mountain-ash tortricid
• Choristoneura heliaspis (Meyrick, 1909)
• Choristoneura improvisana (Kuznetsov, 1973)
• Choristoneura irina Syachina & Budashkin, 2007
• Choristoneura jecorana (Kennel, 1899)
• Choristoneura jezoensis Yasuda & Suzuki, 1987
• Choristoneura lafauryana (Ragonot, 1875)
• Choristoneura lambertiana (Busck, 1915)
• Choristoneura longicellanus (Walsingham, 1900)
• Choristoneura luticostana (Christoph, 1888)
• Choristoneura metasequoiacola Liu, 1983
• Choristoneura murinana (Hubner, [1796-1799])
• Choristoneura neurophaea (Meyrick, 1932)
• Choristoneura obsoletana (Walker, 1863)
• Choristoneura occidentalis (Walsingham, 1891)
• Choristoneura orae Freeman, 1967
• Choristoneura palladinoi Razowski & Trematerra, 2010
• Choristoneura parallela (Robinson, 1869)
• Choristoneura pinus Freeman, 1953, jack pine budworm
• Choristoneura propensa Razowski, 1992
• Choristoneura psoricodes (Meyrick, 1911)
• Choristoneura quadratica Diakonoff, 1955
• Choristoneura retiniana (Walsingham, 1879)
• Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris, 1841)
• Choristoneura simonyi (Rebel, 1892)
• Choristoneura spaldingana Obraztsov, 1962
• Choristoneura thyrsifera Razowski, 1984
• Choristoneura zapulata (Robinson, 1869)

Controls

Budworm populations are usually regulated naturally by combinations of several natural factors such as insect parasites, vertebrate and invertebrate predators, and adverse weather conditions. During prolonged outbreaks when stands become heavily defoliated, starvation can be an important mortality factor in regulating populations.

This species is a favoured food of the Cape May warbler, which is therefore closely associated with its host plant, balsam fir. This bird, and the Tennessee and bay-breasted warblers, which also have a preference for budworm, lay more eggs and are more numerous in years of budworm abundance.

Natural enemies are probably responsible for considerable mortality when budworm populations are low, but seldom have a regulating influence when populations are in epidemic proportions.

Chemical insecticides such as malathion, carbaryl, and acephate can substantially reduce budworm. Microbial insecticides such as the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, a naturally occurring, host-specific pathogen that affects only the larvae of lepidopterous insects is environmentally safe to use in sensitive areas such as campgrounds or along rivers or streams where it may not be desirable to use chemical insecticides.

Appearances in the media

In the Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy film Desk Set, the market cost of the annual depredations of the spruce budworm on United States forests is invoked as an example reference question in comparing the response times of human reference librarians and early computer databases.

External links

• tortricidae.com

References

• Lederer, 1859, Wien. ent. Monatschr. 3: 426.
• Brown, J.W., 2005: World Catalogue of Insects volume 5 Tortricidae.
• Kawabe, A., 1965: A revision of the genus Archips from Japan. Tyô to Ga 16 (1/2): 13-40. Abstract and Full article: [1].
• Liu Y.-q., 1983: A new species of Choristoneura injurious to Metasequoia in Hubei province (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Entomotaxonomia 5 (4): 289-291. Full article: [2].
• Nedoshivina, S.V., 2007: On the type specimens of the Tortricidae described by Eduard Friedrich Eversmann from the Volgo-Ural Region. Nota Lepidopterologica, 30 (1): 93-114. Full article: [3].
• Razowski, J, 2008: Tortricidae (Lepidoptera) from South Africa. 6: Choristoneura Hübner and Procrica Diakonoff. Polish Journal of Entomology 77 (3): 245-254. [4].
• Razowski, J. & M. Krüger, 2013: An illustrated catalogue of the specimens of Tortricidae in the Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Shilap Revista de Lepidopterologia 41 (162): 213-240.
• Razowski, J. & P. Trematerra, 2010: Tortricidae (Lepidoptera) from Ethiopia Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research Serie II, 42 (2): 47-79. Abstract: [5].