Gypsy moth is an exotic pest. It _will_ defoliate pines (but only after
defoliating all hardwoods expect tulip poplar, which the bugs refuse to eat).
The female gypsy moth doesn't fly, but _can_ lay 500-1000 eggs. The "Gypsy moth
Front" moves slowly (except when eggs are laid on cars) and the first year of an
infestation ussually involves limited defoliation. The second gypsy moth season
usually involves defoilation of all oak species (the gypsy moth prefers White
and Chestnut oak on the eastern seaboard) in the forest. By the third year,
defoliation of the complete forest usually occurs before larval maturity,
sending the worms out in force to consume almost anything green! Defoliation of
evergreen species (from what I understand) will cause widespread devastation to
the evergreens. It's usually at this point that parasitoids, and viruses catch
up with the front, and the population crashes, though not before leaving a
winter-like landscape in midsummer!
There is also a Asian Gypsy moth present on the west coast, and, as I understand
it, the female flies. Further some hybrid gypsy moths (I believe) are present
in the Midwest US.
There are a number of biological controls that are effective, including NPV
(nucleopolyhedron virus), Entomophaga maiomaiga, and other fungi, as well as
Btk.
--------------------
Russ Bulluck
Visiting Post-Doctoral Scholar
Department of Plant Pathology
1 Shields Ave
UC-Davis
Davis, CA 95616
lrbulluck@ucdavis.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------
The soil population is so complex that it manifestly cannot
be dealt with as a whole with any detail by any one person,
and at the same time it plays so important a part in the soil
economy that it must be studied.
--Sir E. John Russell
The Micro-organisms of the Soil, 1923
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