HYPENA OPULENTA (EREBIDAE): A EUROPEAN SPECIES FOR THE BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF INVASIVE SWALLOW-WORTS (VINCETOXICUM SPP.) IN NORTH AMERICA

Authors

Jim Young, United States of America Department of AgricultureFollow
Aaron S. Weed, Dartmouth College, HanoverFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

1-8-2014

Citation

U.S. government works are not subject to copyright.

Comments

Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 68(3), 2014, 162–166

Abstract

The moth Hypena opulenta (Christoph, 1877) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) was approved for release in eastern Canada and is pending approval in the United States of America as a biological control agent of the invasive European swallow-worts (Vincetoxicum spp.). Descriptions of the adult in Noctuidae Europeae do not accurately represent the color morph of the rearing colony so a new description is provided. Also for the first time the larva is described and illustrated and a simple key is provided that separates H. opulenta from most of the Hypena spp. in the Northeastern U.S.