Cabbage worm
Encyclopedia
The term cabbage worm is primarily used for any of four kinds of lepidoptera
n whose larvae
feed on cabbage
s and other cole crops
. Host plants include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, collards, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, radishes, turnips, rutabagas and kohlrabi. This small group of similar pest species is known to agriculturists as the cabbage worm complex.
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
n whose larvae
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
feed on cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
s and other cole crops
Brassicaceae
Brassicaceae, a medium sized and economically important family of flowering plants , are informally known as the mustards, mustard flowers, the crucifers or the cabbage family....
. Host plants include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, collards, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, radishes, turnips, rutabagas and kohlrabi. This small group of similar pest species is known to agriculturists as the cabbage worm complex.
- The imported cabbage worm is the green larva of the cabbage butterfly or cabbage white, any of several largely white butterflies (family PieridaePieridaeThe Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing approximately 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and Asia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow or orange in coloration, often with black spots...
, type genus Pieris, garden whites). The Small White (P. rapae) is a small, common, cosmopolitan butterfly whose caterpillar has fine, short fuzz and is bright green; it prefers cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. A larger Old World form (P. brassicae) is called Large WhiteLarge WhiteThe Large White , also called Cabbage Butterfly, Cabbage White, or in India the Large Cabbage White, White cabbage butterfly is a butterfly in the family Pieridae.-Distribution:...
. A common North American form (P. protodice) is known as the southern cabbage butterfly. The Green-veined White (P. napi) occurs in Europe and North America. In all of these species the larvae eat the leaves, which then become toxic to animals that consume the infested foliage.
- The cabbage looperCabbage looperThe Cabbage Looper is a member of the moth family Noctuidae. It is found throughout the southern Palaearctic ecozone, all of North America, parts of Africa and most of the Oriental and Indo-Australian region....
(Trichoplusia ni) is a member of the moth family NoctuidaeNoctuidaeThe Noctuidae or owlet moths are a family of robustly-built moths that includes more than 35,000 known species out of possibly 100,000 total, in more than 4,200 genera. They constitute the largest family in the Lepidoptera....
. The caterpillar is smooth and green with white stripes. It is called a "looper" because it arches its body as it crawls, inchworm-style. This species is very destructive to plants due to its voracious consumption of leaves. It is not restricted to cole crops; other plant hosts include tomato, cucumber, and potato. The adult of the species is a nocturnal brown moth.
- The cabbage webworm is a widely distributed webworm (Hellula undalis) native to southern Europe or Asia that also injures cabbages and other vegetables in the Gulf states of the United States.
- The diamondback mothDiamondback mothThe diamondback moth , sometimes called cabbage moth, is a European moth believed to originate in the Mediterranean region that has since spread worldwide. The moth has a short life cycle , is highly fecund and capable of migrating long distances...
(Plutella xylostella or, in some literature known by the synonym P. maculipennis) is a member of the moth family PlutellidaePlutellidaePlutellidae is a family of moths. Some authors consider this family to be a subfamily of Yponomeutidae.-Genera:*Acrolepia*Acrolepiopsis*Digitivalva*Eidophasia*Plutella...
. The caterpillar is smooth and solid green in color. When disturbed, it thrashes and drops off the plant. The newly-emerged larva is a leaf minerLeaf minerLeaf miner is a term used to describe the larvae of many different species of insect which live in and eat the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths , sawflies and flies , though some beetles and wasps also exhibit this behavior.Like Woodboring beetles, leaf...
, entering the tissues of the leaf and consuming the parenchyma between the two outer layers of the leaf. Larger larvae make holes through the leaf, consuming all the tissue. The adult of the species is a small, elongated gray moth with whitish spots on the forewings that form two diamond shapes when the moth is at rest. The diamondback moth is primarily a tropical species, but is migratory, reaching temperate zones in most years.
External links
- Imported Cabbageworm info page
- Cabbage Looper info page
- Diamondback Moth info page
- imported cabbage worm on the UFUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
/ IFASInstitute of Food and Agricultural SciencesThe University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
Featured Creatures Web site - diamondback moth on the UFUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
/ IFASInstitute of Food and Agricultural SciencesThe University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
Featured Creatures Web site - cabbage looper on the UFUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
/ IFASInstitute of Food and Agricultural SciencesThe University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
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