Thanks Megan,Yes, an important detail I overlooked is my location. I'm indeed in southern VT. SWD arrived here maybe 4-5 yrs ago. I'm thinking this is a new arrival too. I'm fairly certain it is NOT the common fruit piercing moth, which is a tropical species as you note, though that has spread as far as Caledonia, Scotland! Though the general feeding behavior seems quite similar, the size and coloration don't match at all. At about 1" long, this moth is about half the size of the common fruit piercing moth. It is entirely mottled grey, lacking any bright coloration of its inner wings or thorax, whereas the fruit piercing moth has a large patch of orange/red visible during flight. These moths are present here from perhaps mid-June until maybe mid-October. I know nothing of their life cycle and so far have been able to drum of very little info about them. I'm planning to contact the state entomologist and the NRCS extension agent who deals with small fruits. I'd be very surprised if these aren't causing mayhem elsewhere. Between them and the SWD that infests their feeding sites, it looks like a tree ripened peach may be a near impossibility. I guess I might consider netting the trees. -Devin
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On Tuesday, August 31, 2021, 1:34 AM, Megan Lynch <spidra@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Devin,
You don't say where you're writing from, but looking at old emails of yours I'm going to assume you're still in Vermont? Given that this is a tropical moth species, I'm actually shocked it could make it through a Vermont winter, even with climate change. Not that iNaturalist is conclusive, but I'm not seeing any logged spottings for Eudocima phalonia. The caterpillars are quite distinctive so that should provide conclusive ID if you see them at that stage.
I found a USDA screening aid on them (they have arrived in TX), but was not able to find IPM information for areas where they've been introduced.https://idtools.org/screeningaids/leps/low/Eudocima_phalonia_LoRes.pdf
There is an Open Access paper on their presence in New Caledonia and it goes into IPM a bit. https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/2/117/html
Megan LynchDavis, CA
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