[LEPS-L:7947] Re: N. pronuba

Don Lafontaine burnbank at sympatico.ca
Tue Nov 21 05:18:54 EST 2000


James:
Further to what you were saying, I expect Noctua pronuba came to North
America as a hitch hicker on a ship since it was first recorded at the
port of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Halifax and Vancouver are among the more
famous ports for the arrival of unwanted foreign insects coming in with
ships. Noctua pronuba is a very strong flier and is recorded coming into
England in massive flights. I expect the Louisiana and North Carolina
records, which both came in 1997, were picked up so far out of the range
known at the time (south to Maryland) because of the tireless and astute
collecting activities of Bo Sullivan and Vernon Brou! Separate
introductions seem unlikely although it is possible that pronuba's spread
in North America is being aided by motor homes and trailers as well as by
its flying ability. This year it was recorded in northern Manitoba (The
Pas), Saskatchewan, and Alberta (Edmonton).

Don Lafontaine

"DR. JAMES ADAMS" wrote:

> Listers,
>
> This is a Palaearctic species that was
> > introduced a while back to North America.
>
> Actually, I don't think it is clear whether this moth was introduced
> or made it to N. America on its own.  Most likely it came in on
> some man-made vehicle.  First recorded in the NE in the late 70's,
> it has now made it to N. GA, western Indiana, Wisconsin.  There
> are also separate records from Louisiana and Colorado, which
> likely represent other introductions into the states.  Certainly the
> lone LA record is almost undoubtedly a unique introduction.
>
>  In the U.K., the vernacular
> > name is The Large Yellow Underwing; colloquial names include
> > buzz-bomber and #@*#ing nuisance due to its tendancy for complete
> > annihilation of the rest of the catch in a moth trap whilst tens or
> > even hundreds of pronuba flap madly about inside the trap.
>
> Well, it certainly hasn't reached *that* level here in N. Georgia
> (yet).  There are other noctuids, however, that would fit under
> Roger's last name -- I had an experience in central Texas in May of
> this year where a trap was overwhelmed by Bulia deducta.  Very
> active and very tenacious, the thousand or so in the trap rendered
> worthless most of the other moths.
>
>         James
>
> Dr. James K. Adams
> Dept. of Natural Science and Math
> Dalton State College
> 213 N. College Drive
> Dalton, GA  30720
> Phone: (706)272-4427; fax: (706)272-2533
> U of Michigan's President James Angell's
>   Secret of Success: "Grow antennae, not horns"
>
>
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