Spring Caterpillar Fauna of Oak and Blueberry in a Virginia Deciduous Forest

Abstract

Lepidopteran faunas of oak and blueberry were studied in an oak woodland in west central Virginia. Larvae were collected from foliage over a 2-wk period and from beneath burlap bands over a 5-wk period in the spring of 1992. One hundred and twenty-nine larvae from 15 families were identified, including 38 noctuids, 32 tortricids, 21 geometrids, and 20 gelechiids. Notable by their absence were Pyralidae, Limacodidae, Notodontidae, and several leafmining groups—all common faunal elements of midsummer foliage. Microlepidopterans accounted for 95% of the larvae from foliage of scarlet/red oak, Erythrobalanus, and 93% of those from blueberry, Vaccinium vacillans Torr. Tortricids (52%), and gelechiids (42%) were numerically the most important families in the foliage collections. Canopy (oak) samples yielded 0.75 larvae per branch tip; subcanopy (oak) samples had 0.46 larvae per branch tip; and understory (blueberry) had 0.13 larvae per branch tip. Macro- and microlepidopteran numbers dropped off by more than one-half on both canopy (oak) and blueberry samples over the 2-wk sampling period, as the spring foliage matured and hardened. Larval abundance under burlap was highest on 24 May, the first sampling date, and continued dropping thereafter. New host-plant records are reported for species of Geometridae, Noctuidae, Tortricidae, and Gelechiidae.