Nocturnal Behavior of Four Lepidopteran Pests That Attack Tobacco and Other Crops1,2

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Abstract
The nocturnal behavior of the tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens (F.), cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hübner), tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta (L.), and soybean looper, Pseudoplusia includens Walker, was observed in a 0.4-ha cage planted to cigar-wrapper tobacco for ca. 3 months. Ambient air and dew point temperatures, night brightness, wind speed, and relative humidity were recorded in an attempt to relate these meteorological parameters to moth behavior. The general pattern of moth activity indicates early evening and early morning peaks of feeding interspersed with oviposition. Mating generally followed a period of moth flight inactivity that occurred just after the early evening peaks in feeding and ovipositional activity. Females were observed “calling” for mates during the inactive flight period, and precopulatory behavior was observed and described. The cabbage looper and tobacco hornworm generally mated earlier in the evening than the soybean looper and tobacco budworm whose mating periods were quite similar and occurred primarily between 10 PM and 4 AM. Mating occurred on both dark and bright nights, but most mating took place during dark periods. However, the tobacco plants and cage cover created an abnormally dark condition within the cage during most of the experimental period. Also, most mating occurred at temperatures near 21.1 °C and a relative humidity above 90%, but these parameters were quite uniformly high throughout the experimental period. Similarly, the wind velocities experienced in the test did not appear to influence mating behavior.

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