Operophtera bruceata
Adult male
Adult male
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Geometridae
Genus: Operophtera
Species:
O. bruceata
Binomial name
Operophtera bruceata
(Hulst, 1886)
Synonyms
  • Operophtera groenlandica de Lesse, 1951
  • Operophtera bruceata hyperborea

Operophtera bruceata, the Bruce spanworm, hunter's moth, or native winter moth is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by George Duryea Hulst in 1886. It is found from coast to coast in southern Canada and the northern parts of the United States.[1]

The wingspan of the males is 25–30 mm. Females have underdeveloped wings and do not fly. Adults are on wing from October to December.

The Bruce spanworm looks very similar and has a similar life cycle to the invasive congener winter moth (O. brumata). The Bruce spanworm is known to hybridize with the winter moth.[2] The two species look almost identical to one another; however, they can be distinguished morphologically by comparing uncus shape or by using DNA analyses.[3] The Bruce spanworm uses the same pheromone as the winter moth.[4]

The larvae hatch in the early spring after overwintering as eggs. The neonates primarily feed on the buds and nearly unfurled leaves of sugar maple, American beech and trembling aspen. They have also been recorded on willow and various other deciduous trees. After feeding for a few weeks, the late instar caterpillars drop down to the soil and build an earthen cocoon. They pupate until the late fall or early winter when they emerge as adults.

Disease from viruses and microsporidia have been noted to effect the larvae and pupae of the Bruce spanworm. Virus infections by a nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) baculovirus was found to be low in Bruce spanworm populations collected in the northeast U.S. and was found to be related to but distinct from the NPV that was detected in the winter moth in the same region.[5] However, collections for Bruce spanworm larvae from an outbreak population in Maine had high levels of infection by microsporidia.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Gwiazdowski, R; Elkinton, J; Dewaard, J; Sremac, M (2013). "Phylogeographic Diversity of the Winter Moths Operophtera brumata and O. bruceata (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in Europe and North America". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 106 (2): 143–151. doi:10.1603/AN12033.
  2. ↑ Havill, N; Elkinton, J; Andersen, J; Hagen, S; Broadley, H; Boettner, G; Caccone, A (2017). "Asymmetric hybridization between non-native winter moth, Operophtera brumata (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), and native Bruce spanworm, Operophtera bruceata, in the Northeastern United States, assessed with novel microsatellites and SNPs". Bulletin of Entomological Research. 107 (2): 241–250. doi:10.1017/S0007485316000857. PMID 27876095.
  3. ↑ Elkinton, J; Boettner, G; Sremac, M; Gwiazdowski, R; Hunkins, R; Callahan, J; Scheufele, S; Donahue, C; Porter, A; Khrimian, A; Whited, B; Campbell, N (2010). "Survey for Winter Moth (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in Northeastern North America with Pheromone-Baited Traps and Hybridization with the Native Bruce Spanworm (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 103 (2): 135–145. doi:10.1603/AN09118.
  4. ↑ Elkinton, J; Lance, D; Boettner, G; Khrimian, A; Leva, N (2011). "Evaluation of pheromone-baited traps for winter moth and Bruce spanworm (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)". J Econ Entomol. 104 (2): 494–500. doi:10.1603/EC09322. PMID 21510197.
  5. ↑ Broadley, H; Boucher, M; Burand, J; Elkinton, J (2017). "The phylogenetic relationship and cross-infection of nucleopolyhedroviruses between the invasive winter moth (Operophtera brumata) and its native congener, Bruce spanworm (O. bruceata)". Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 143: 61–68. doi:10.1016/j.jip.2016.11.016. PMID 27916614.
  6. ↑ Donahue, K; Broadley, H; Elkinton, J; Burand, J; Huang, WF; Andersen, J (2018). "Using the SSU, ITS, and Ribosomal DNA Operon Arrangement to Characterize Two Microsporidia Infecting Bruce Spanworm, Operophtera bruceata (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)". Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 66 (3): 424–434. doi:10.1111/jeu.12685. PMID 30136341.
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