Commonly Encountered Insect Pests of Virginia

Authors

Angel Almaas, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

First Advisor

Erin Bauer

Date of this Version

Spring 2025

Document Type

Project

Citation

ENTO 888, MS project

Department of Entomology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2025

Comments

Copyright 2025, Angel Almaas. Used by permission

Abstract

Foreword

The goal of this pamphlet is to provide an outline of over 50 commonly encountered pest species that occur in Virginia. Care was given to represent each category of pest. This is by no means an exhaustive list of insect pests in Virginia. However, the profiles chosen are reflective of data from insect inventories performed on military bases in coastal Virginia (Fort Eustis, Langley Air Force Base, and Camp Pendleton), sampling from counties in central Virginia, insect species diversity surveys performed in northern Virginia, annual species counts of vector surveillance data from the Virginia Department of Health, and information from the Virginia Department of Agriculture.

The vast majority of insects are beneficial or neutral, most are not pests. A pest, by definition, is an organism whose presence adversely affects humans; this runs the gamut from posing a risk to human health, imposing economic harm, or just mere aesthetic annoyance. Organizing insect pest species into defined categories helps lessen the subjectivity, allowing for prioritization of workload by order of importance and magnitude of impact.

Due to toxicity and environmental effects, there was a shift from using pesticides routinely as a first resort to current practices of using pesticides either once other control measures have been exhausted or sparingly, electing for the least hazardous option in conjunction with other control measures. One objective of integrated pest management (IPM) is to not rely on toxicants to control insect populations. Pest managers can utilize knowledge of pest species or type, pest life history, and environmental conditions to implement a variety of control measures to reduce pest populations. In my opinion, this is a more cognitive, rewarding approach. During my time as a pest manager, in nearly all cases, there were recommendations or corrective actions, often in the form of habitat modification or habit modification, that customers could accomplish to reduce or even eliminate the pest of concern. In almost no case, except perhaps rare special circumstances, is the solution solely pesticide application.