Lesser wax moth
Encyclopedia
Achroia grisella, the Lesser Wax Moth, is a small moth
of the snout moth family
(Pyralidae), wherein it belongs to the subfamily Galleriinae
. It is the only unequivocally recognized species
of genus
Achroia
. The Greater Wax Moth (Galleria mellonella) is a quite close relative; though placed in a distinct genus, it still belongs to the same tribe
– the Galleriini – within the Galleriinae.
Their caterpillar
s larva
e are among the best-known "waxworms", as they are widely bred as food for pets such as lizards or fish
.
Lesser Wax Moths are very common in most parts of the world, except the colder regions, aided in their spread by humans who have involuntarily introduced them to many countries. They are known or suspected to inhabit most of Africa
(including Madagascar
), Australia
, Europe
(expect perhaps some more remote regions, particularly in Greece
) and North America
, as well as parts of the Neotropics (at least Colombia
, Jamaica
, Puerto Rico
and Trinidad
), the Bengal
region, Japan
, Sri Lanka
, and the Marquesas Islands
and Tahiti
in French Polynesia
.
because of the year-round warm climate. These moths live around 7 months, from egg to senile adult. They go through four stages in their life cycle
– egg, larva
(caterpillar
), pupa
and imago
– like all holometabolous insect
s.
The larvae are the only ones that eat, the adults will not eat. Their diet typically consists of honey
, beeswax
, stored pollen
, bee shell casings, and in some cases bee brood. Tunneling through honeycomb
s will not only provide food, but also protect the larvae from the defending worker bee
s. Less usual foods that have been reported are dried vegetable remains, dried fruits (especially apple
s and raisin
s), horn
shavings (an organic fertilizer
), cork and even refined sugar
.
Populations of these moths take over the honeycombs of bee colonies, usually when the bees are in a weakened state. Lesser Wax Moths can often be seen in bee colonies trying to lay their eggs, but in most cases the worker bees will eliminate them and keep the moths from over-running the colony. When the colony is going through a period of stress, such as after the loss of its queen bee
or under starvation conditions, the moths may completely take over the honeycombs.
The reproduction of these moths begins with ultrasonic
signals sent out by the males in order to attract their female partners. The typical mating spot for these moths is in honeybee colonies, and the males can be seen there anywhere between six and ten hours in just a single night. Females are attracted to these ultrasonic signals in any one of three ways; peak amplitude, signal rate, and the asynchrony interval. Studies have been conducted that show these moths increase their signal rate when having to compete with others for the right to a local female, but due to the physical demands of an increased signal rate, its duration typically lasts only five to ten minutes. It has been concluded that these are the most prevalent few minutes of the entire six to ten hours spent out each night.
s of the Lesser Wax Moth can be very destructive to the honeycomb. They were first seen in North America
in 1806, and are believed to have been imported there with honeybees from Europe
. It has been estimated that annually, beekeepers lose nearly 5 million US dollars in damages due to these pests. There are many methods of control that beekeepers have adopted to ensure that these moths do not ruin the combs.
The bees themselves are the best form of control for these moths. They keep the populations at very low numbers and it is only when they are not strong enough that the moth populations will drastically increase. Beekeepers must make sure that the hives have active, populated colonies that are clean and free of debris. This will help to ensure the survival and strength of the bees who can then control the populations of the moths.
In the colder climates, storing the beeswax combs in freezing winter temperatures will stop there from being any chance of a moth infestation. Lesser wax moths need warm climates to thrive. There is also a fumigant known as paradichlorobenzene (PDB) that is used to destroy these moths. This can only be used on combs that are in storage. They are not successful on combs that currently are filled with honey. Carbon dioxide
can be used to fumigate combs that are filled with honey
. It ensures that the honey is still acceptable to be sold.
Heating or freezing combs filled with honey also allow the honey to still be sold. The hotter or colder the temperature is, the less time that is required to make sure that the comb has been protected.
So far no traps have been found that completely protect honeycombs from the invasion of lesser wax moth larva.
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
of the snout moth family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
(Pyralidae), wherein it belongs to the subfamily Galleriinae
Galleriinae
The Galleriinae are a subfamily of snout moths and occur essentially world-wide, in some cases aided by involuntary introduction by humans...
. It is the only unequivocally recognized species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Achroia
Achroia
Achroia is a genus of small moths of the snout moth family . It belongs to the tribe Galleriini of subfamily Galleriinae.It has only one unequivocally recognized species; two others are placed here but their validity is doubtful:...
. The Greater Wax Moth (Galleria mellonella) is a quite close relative; though placed in a distinct genus, it still belongs to the same tribe
Tribe (biology)
In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...
– the Galleriini – within the Galleriinae.
Their caterpillar
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...
s larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e are among the best-known "waxworms", as they are widely bred as food for pets such as lizards or fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
.
Lesser Wax Moths are very common in most parts of the world, except the colder regions, aided in their spread by humans who have involuntarily introduced them to many countries. They are known or suspected to inhabit most of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
(including Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
), Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
(expect perhaps some more remote regions, particularly in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
) and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, as well as parts of the Neotropics (at least Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
), the Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
region, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, and the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
and Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
in French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
.
Ecology
The Lesser Wax Moth typically resides in milder climates, but can be prevalent in areas such as FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
because of the year-round warm climate. These moths live around 7 months, from egg to senile adult. They go through four stages in their life cycle
Biological life cycle
A life cycle is a period involving all different generations of a species succeeding each other through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction...
– egg, larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
(caterpillar
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...
), pupa
Pupa
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...
and imago
Imago
In biology, the imago is the last stage of development of an insect, after the last ecdysis of an incomplete metamorphosis, or after emergence from the pupa where the metamorphosis is complete...
– like all holometabolous insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s.
The larvae are the only ones that eat, the adults will not eat. Their diet typically consists of honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
, beeswax
Beeswax
Beeswax is a natural wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees of the genus Apis. It is mainly esters of fatty acids and various long chain alcohols...
, stored pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
, bee shell casings, and in some cases bee brood. Tunneling through honeycomb
Honeycomb
A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal waxcells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey...
s will not only provide food, but also protect the larvae from the defending worker bee
Worker bee
A Worker bee is any female eusocial bee that lacks the full reproductive capacity of the colony's queen bee; under most circumstances, this is correlated to an increase in certain non-reproductive activities relative to a queen, as well...
s. Less usual foods that have been reported are dried vegetable remains, dried fruits (especially apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s and raisin
Raisin
Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
s), horn
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
shavings (an organic fertilizer
Organic fertilizer
Organic fertilizers are naturally occurring fertilizers .Naturally occurring organic fertilizers include manure, slurry, worm castings, peat, seaweed, humic acid, and guano. Sewage sludge use in organic agricultural operations in the U.S...
), cork and even refined sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
.
Populations of these moths take over the honeycombs of bee colonies, usually when the bees are in a weakened state. Lesser Wax Moths can often be seen in bee colonies trying to lay their eggs, but in most cases the worker bees will eliminate them and keep the moths from over-running the colony. When the colony is going through a period of stress, such as after the loss of its queen bee
Queen bee
The term queen bee is typically used to refer to an adult, mated female that lives in a honey bee colony or hive; she is usually the mother of most, if not all, the bees in the hive. The queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and specially fed in order to become sexually mature...
or under starvation conditions, the moths may completely take over the honeycombs.
The reproduction of these moths begins with ultrasonic
Ultrasound
Ultrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is thus not separated from "normal" sound based on differences in physical properties, only the fact that humans cannot hear it. Although this limit varies from person to person, it is...
signals sent out by the males in order to attract their female partners. The typical mating spot for these moths is in honeybee colonies, and the males can be seen there anywhere between six and ten hours in just a single night. Females are attracted to these ultrasonic signals in any one of three ways; peak amplitude, signal rate, and the asynchrony interval. Studies have been conducted that show these moths increase their signal rate when having to compete with others for the right to a local female, but due to the physical demands of an increased signal rate, its duration typically lasts only five to ten minutes. It has been concluded that these are the most prevalent few minutes of the entire six to ten hours spent out each night.
Control
The caterpillarCaterpillar
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...
s of the Lesser Wax Moth can be very destructive to the honeycomb. They were first seen in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
in 1806, and are believed to have been imported there with honeybees from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. It has been estimated that annually, beekeepers lose nearly 5 million US dollars in damages due to these pests. There are many methods of control that beekeepers have adopted to ensure that these moths do not ruin the combs.
The bees themselves are the best form of control for these moths. They keep the populations at very low numbers and it is only when they are not strong enough that the moth populations will drastically increase. Beekeepers must make sure that the hives have active, populated colonies that are clean and free of debris. This will help to ensure the survival and strength of the bees who can then control the populations of the moths.
In the colder climates, storing the beeswax combs in freezing winter temperatures will stop there from being any chance of a moth infestation. Lesser wax moths need warm climates to thrive. There is also a fumigant known as paradichlorobenzene (PDB) that is used to destroy these moths. This can only be used on combs that are in storage. They are not successful on combs that currently are filled with honey. Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
can be used to fumigate combs that are filled with honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
. It ensures that the honey is still acceptable to be sold.
Heating or freezing combs filled with honey also allow the honey to still be sold. The hotter or colder the temperature is, the less time that is required to make sure that the comb has been protected.
So far no traps have been found that completely protect honeycombs from the invasion of lesser wax moth larva.