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Apamea apamiformis

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Apamea apamiformis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Apamea
Species:
A. apamiformis
Binomial name
Apamea apamiformis
Guenée, 1852
Synonyms
  • Xylophasia apamiformis
  • Hadena contenta

Apamea apamiformis, known by the common names rice worm moth, riceworm,[1] and wild rice worm,[2] is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in North America, including Wisconsin,[3]: 23  New York, Minnesota and eastern Canada, with imperiled or critically imperiled populations in Maryland and Indiana, respectively, and a vulnerable population in New Jersey.[4]

Description

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The adult's wingspan is about 39 millimetres (1.5 in). Adults are dimorphic, with a dark form and a light form distinguished by the coloration of the forewing.[5]: 37–38  The reniform spot is dark[5]: 25  with white scales along that spot's concave border (facing the forewing's outer margin).[5]: 38 

Life cycle and behavior

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Adults are on wing from June to August depending on the location. They feed on nectar from common milkweed flowers.[6]

Eggs are laid in the florets of wild rice from late June or early July until early August.[6] The eggs hatch after eight or nine days and the larvae eat the ovary of their floret before ballooning away on self-spun silk threads.[6] By the third instar they begin to consume maturing grain in the flower heads of the wild rice.[6] Starting in September the larvae, now in the sixth or seventh instar, will either bury themselves in soil[6] or will have already bored themselves into the rice stalks,[5] where they overwinter before emerging in mid-spring to feed, moult into the eighth instar and subsequently pupate.[5][6]

Economic importance

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The larva is known as the most serious insect pest of cultivated wild rice in Minnesota,[2] and perhaps the entire Upper Midwest of the United States.[7] The larvae may be mistaken for rice grains during harvesting.

References

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  1. ^ Apamea apamiformis. Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine Invasive Species List and Scorecards for California. California Invasive Species Advisory Committee. 2010.
  2. ^ a b Nelson, J. J. Insect Pests: Wild Rice Worm. Archived January 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Crop Profile for Wild Rice in Minnesota. NSF Center for Integrated Pest Management & USDA. 2000.
  3. ^ Ferge, Leslie A.; Balogh, George J.; Johnson, Kyle E. (June 2018). "Checklist of Wisconsin Moths" (PDF). Wisconsin Entomological Society Special Publication No. 6. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  4. ^ Schweitzer, Dale F. (30 September 2022). "Apamea apamiformis". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e Mikkola, Kauri; Lafontaine, J. Donald; Gill, Jocelyn D. (2009). "Fascicle 26.9, Noctuidea, Noctuidae (part): Xyleninae (part): Apameini (part—Apamea group of genera" (PDF). In Hodges, Ronald W.; Brown, Richard L.; Davis, Donald R.; Lafontaine, J. Donald; Powell, Jerry A.; Solis, M. Alma (eds.). The Moths of North America. Washington: The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation. ISBN 978-0-933003-14-9. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Peterson, A.G.; Noetzel, D.M.; Sargent, J.E.; Hanson, P.E.; Johnson, C.B.; Soemawinata, A.T. (1981). "Insects of Wild Rice in Minnesota". St. Paul, Minnesota: University of Minnesota. R157. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  7. ^ Oelke, E. A. 1993. Wild rice: Domestication of a native North American genus. p. 235-43. In: Janick, J. and J. E. Simon (eds.), New Crops. Wiley, New York. Accessed 30 July 2022.
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Further reading

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  • MacKay, M. R. and E. W. Rockburne. (1958). Notes on life-history and larval description of Apamea apamiformis (Guenée), a pest of wild rice (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). The Canadian Entomologist 90(10), 579-82. doi:10.4039/Ent90579-10