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

2014

Citation

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

Comments

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

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.