Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T00:42:23.573Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lepidoptera outbreaks in response to successional changes after the passage of Hurricane Hugo in Puerto Rico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Juan A. Torres
Juan A. Torres
Affiliation:
Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station, Call Box 25000, Río Piedras, PR 00928-2500 and Department of Biology, Colegio Universitario Tecnológico de Bayamón, Bayamón, PR 00959-1919
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Fifteen species of Lepidoptera occurred in large numbers in spring and early summer after the passage of Hurricane Hugo over the north-east of Puerto Rico. Spodoptera eridania (Noctuidae) was the most common of the larvae and fed on 56 plant species belonging to 31 families. All the Lepidoptera fed on early successional vegetation. Some of the plants represent new host plants for these species. The outbreaks appeared to be based on the flush of new foliage that developed in the Luquillo Mountains after the passage of the hurricane. The end of the S. eridania outbreak was concurrent with the consumption of its preferred host plants and to an apparent increment in parasitism by ichneumonids (Hymenoptera). Parasitism by tachinids (Diptera) may have contributed to the reduction in abundance of other Lepidoptera species that were temporarily very abundant. Natural enemies of S. eridania were recorded for the first time in Puerto Rico.

Keywords

DipteradisturbanceHymenopterainsectsLepidopteraparasitesPuerto Rico
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , August 1992 , pp. 285 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Barbosa, P. & Wagner, M. R. 1989. Introduction to forest and shade tree insects. Academic Press, Inc. San Diego. 639 pp.Google Scholar
Bell, C. R. 1970. Seed distribution and germination experiment. Pp. 177–182 (part D) in Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). A tropical rain forest. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington.Google Scholar
Crumb, S. E. 1927. The army worms. Bulletin Brooklyn Entomological Society 22:41–45.Google Scholar
Edmisten, J. 1970. Studies of Phytolacca icosandra. Pp. 183–188 (part D) in Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). A tropical rain forest.U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington.Google Scholar
Fassig, O. L. 1929. On the frequency of hurricanes in the vicinity of Puerto Rico. Journal of Public Health and Tropical Medicine 5:106–113.Google Scholar
Foerster, L. A. & Dionisio, A. L. 1989. Temperature requirements for the development of Spodoptera endania Cramer 1782 (Lepidoptera Noctuidae) on bracatinga Mimosa scabrella Bentham (Leguminosae). Annals Society Entomology Brasil 18(1): 145–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfray, H. C. J. & Chan, M. S. 1990. How insecticides trigger single-stage outbreaks in tropical pests. Functional Ecology 4:329–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guariguata, M. R. 1989. Landslide natural disturbance and forest regeneration in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico, MS Thesis, University of Florida.Google Scholar
Holdridge, L. R. 1967. Life zone ecology. Tropical Science Center. San Jose, Costa Rica. 206 pp.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1984. Two ways to be a tropical big moth: Santa Rosa saturniids and sphingids. Pp. 86–140 in Dawkins, R. & Ridley, M. (cds). Oxford surveys in evolutionary biology. Oxford University Press, London.Google Scholar
Little, E. L., Woodbury, R. O. & Wadsworth, F. H. 1974. Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Agriculture Handbook No. 449. US Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC. 1024 pp.Google Scholar
Manuwoto, S. & Scriber, J. M. 1986. Effects of hydrolyzable and condensed tannin on growth and development of two species of polyphagous Lepidoptera: Spodoptera eridania and Callosamia promethea. Oecologia 69(2):225–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martorell, L. F. 1945. A survey of the forest insects of Puerto Rico. Part II. Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico 29(4):355–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martorell, L. F. 1976. Annotated food plant catalog of the insects of Puerto Rico. Agricultural Experiment Station, Rio Piedras. 303 pp.Google Scholar
Mattana, A. L. & Foerster, L. A. 1988. Consumption and utilization of leaves of sweet potato and bracatinga by larvae of Spodoptera eridania Cramer 1782 (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Annals Society Entomology Brasil 17 (Suppl.):95–106.Google Scholar
Mitchell, E. R. 1984. Damage of sunflower by the southern armyworm Spodoptera eridania (Lepidoptera Noctuidae). Florida Entomologist 67(2):273–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. 1988. Public information statement. San Juan Puerto Rico 2:30 P.M. AST Thu Dec. 1.Google Scholar
Odum, H. T. & Ruiz, J. 1970. Holes in leaves and the grazing control mechanism. Pp. 6980 (part I) in Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). A tropical rain forest. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington.Google Scholar
Osborn, H. 1935. Insects of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands: Homoptera (excepting the Sternorhynchi). New York Academy of Sciences Scientific Survey of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 14(2): 111–260.Google Scholar
Perez, I. E. 1986. Tree regeneration in two tropical rain forests. MS Thesis, University of Puerto Rico.Google Scholar
Riley, N. D. 1975. A field guide to the butterflies of the West Indies. A Demeter Press Book, 224 pp.Google Scholar
Scatena, F. N. 1990. Geomorphic impacts of Hurricane Hugo on the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico:Google Scholar
Preliminary observations. P. 393 in Ziemer, R. R., O'Loughlin, C. L. & Hamilton L. S. (eds). Research needs and applications to reduce erosion and sedimentation in tropical steeplands (Proceedings of the Fiji Symposium, June 1990): IAHS-AISH Publication No. 192, 396 pp.Google Scholar
Scriber, J. M. 1986. Local food plant specialization in natural field populations of the southern armyworm, Spodoptera eridania (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Entomological News 97(4): 183–185.Google Scholar
Scriber, J. M. & Feeny, P. 1979. Growth of herbivorous caterpillars in relation to feeding specialization and to the growth form of their food plants. Ecology 60(4):829–848.Google Scholar
Smith, M. R. 1942. The relationship of ants and other organisms to certain scale insects on coffee in Puerto Rico. The Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico 26:21–27.Google Scholar
Soo, C. F. & Fraenkel, G. 1966a. The selection of food plants in a polyphagous insect, Prodenia eridania (Cramer). Journal of Insect Physiology 12:693–709.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soo, C. F. & Fraenkel, G. 1966b. The consumption, digestion, and utilization of food plants by a polyphagous insect, Prodenia eridania (Cramer). Journal of Insect Physiology 12:711–730.Google Scholar
Tietz, H. M. 1972. An index to the described life history, early stages and hosts of the macrolepidoptera of the continental United States and Canada. A. C. Allym, Sarasota, FL. 1041 pp.Google Scholar
Torres, J. A. 1988. Tropical cyclone effects on insect colonization and abundance in Puerto Rico. Acta Cientifica 2(1):40–44.Google Scholar
Wolcott, G. N. 1932. The effect of the hurricane of San Ciprían on insects in Puerto Rico. The Insect Pest Survey Bulletin 12(1):409–410.Google Scholar
Wolcott, G. N. 1933. The changed status of some insect pests in Puerto Rico. The Journal of the Department of Agriculture of Puerto Rico 17:265–270.Google Scholar
Wolcott, G. N. 1941. The dispersion of the cottony cushion scale in Puerto Rico in eight years. Caribbean Forester 2:132–135.Google Scholar
Wolcott, G. N. 1948. The insects of Puerto Rico. Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico 32(3):417–748.Google Scholar