The cabbage moth (''Mamestra brassicae'') is primarily known as a pest that is responsible for severe crop damage of a wide variety of plant species. The common name, cabbage moth, is a misnomer as the species feeds on many fruits, vegetables, and crops in the genus ''
Brassica
''Brassica'' () is a genus of plants in the cabbage and mustard family (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus are informally known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, or mustard plants. Crops from this genus are sometimes called ''cole ...
'' (i.e.
cabbage,
broccoli,
Brussels sprouts).
Other notable host plants include
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ch ...
,
sunflower, and
tomato
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word , ...
, making this pest species particularly economically damaging.
The moth spans a wide geographic range encompassing the entire
Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Si ...
region. Due to this wide geographic region and the presence of various populations globally, local adaptations have resulted in a species with high variability in life history and behavior across different populations.
Geographic range
The cabbage moth has a wide geographic distribution across parts of Europe and Asia ranging from about 30°N to 70°N in latitude.
This geographic range is within the Palearctic region, which includes parts of Europe, Asia north of the
Himalayan Mountains, and Africa north of the
Sahara Desert
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. As many host plants are both endemic or domesticated in various parts of this region, the moth is able to successfully thrive in nearly all parts of this region due to local adaptation (Masaki).
While the moth is generally limited to this range, there is a threat that it could be introduced to new regions through global food trade industries involving live plant imports.
Taxonomy
The cabbage moth, ''Mamestra brassicae'', should not be confused with the cabbage looper (''
Trichoplusia ni'') or the white cabbage butterfly (''
Pieris rapae'') which share similar names but occupy different taxonomies.
''Mamestra brassicae'' belongs to the order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). Within this order, the species belongs to the clade
Ditrysia
The Ditrysia are a natural group or clade of insects in the lepidopteran order containing both butterflies and moths. They are so named because the female has two distinct sexual openings: one for mating, and the other for laying eggs (in cont ...
, which contains 98% of the Lepidoptera species and indicates that the female has two separate openings for mating and laying eggs. The species belongs to the family
Noctuidae
The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the othe ...
, the second largest family in Lepidoptera. Within this family, the cabbage moth falls within the subfamily
Hadeninae. The genus ''
Mamestra'' is home to many pest species and has a global distribution.
Technical description and variation
''B. brassicae'' L. (= ''albicolon'' Stph., nec Hbn., ''ochracea'' Tutt) Forewing grey-brown varied with fuscous: lines pale, dark-edged; orbicular stigma rounded, reniform large, white-spotted, or filled in with white; hindwing brownish, with a paler mark near end of vein 2. -
The insect varies in opposite directions; - ab. ''albidilinea'' Haw.
is a blackish form with the reniform stigma and submarginal line white, occurring occasionally in Europe as well as in Britain; — ''scotochroma'' Rob., a local German form, is melanic, with both wings blackish, much like ''albidilinea'', but without the white submarginal line; — ''unicolor'' Tutt has all the markings, dark and light , more or less lost in the fuscous suffusion , the reniform edged only with whitish ; — on the other hand ''andalusica'' Stgr. from Spain (? = ''straminea'' Failla-Ted., from Sicily and Italy) is pale grey- brown with a faint ochreous flush, darker grey in female, with all markings obscured except the 3 stigmata which are strikingly pale, with partial blackish outline, especially on their lower edge, the claviform sometimes grey; — ''decolorata'' Stgr. from Issykkul and other localities in Central Asia is pale greyish brown, with the stigmata as in ''andalusica'', but with the markings, especially the submarginal ones, not obsolete; — ''canescens'' Moore from Yarkand, which I have not seen, is, judging from the figure, very close to, if not identical with, ''decolorata'' which it antedates by 10 years. Larva polyphagous, varying in ground colour from green to brown and blackish, with broad pale spiracular line; a dorsal hump on segment 11.
Life history
The life history is highly variable depending on the location of the population. Some populations are able to fit two to three generations within one calendar year. Other populations, in less favorable climates, may have only one generation in a given year.
Diapause is this species' most variable life stage, lasting anywhere from 80 days to six months if needed over the winter.
Eggs
Upon
oviposition, the eggs are pale white, oblong, hemispherical, and ribbed. The eggs also develop a brown marking at their center. The egg typically measures 1.2 mm in diameter and hatch within six to ten days.
Caterpillars
The caterpillar progresses through six
instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow o ...
s of development. In the first instar, the caterpillar has a light green body with three pairs of legs along the thorax and an anal appendage at the end of the abdomen. The caterpillars remain relatively the same in color until the fourth instar, in which the dorsal region darkens. The dorsal region now appears brown while the ventral region turns yellow. There is some variability in coloring at this stage. There is also a dark stripe that appears to run down the length of the caterpillar with light yellow stripes flanking the sides. The head is a copper color. At the sixth and final instar, the head remains copper and the body and develop a dorsal hump. The total time for this larval development is four to six weeks and the final body length ranges from .
Colors and patterns
''Known colors, closures and patterns include-''
* Many have back and side stripes;
dark back marks,
variose white back and side spots;
dark '
tier tread marks' type patches;
big, shiny, brownish or coppery colored eyes,
and a dark back central back stripe.
* Grey above, pick side stripe and tan bottom.
*Like a peace red-brown earth
*Like a peace grey-brown earth
*Tan above, white and then yellow stripe and pink underside.
*Green, khaki, grey-brown or brown with dark spots
*Green-grey above, yellow stripe and light green below
*Grey green with a dark green back stripe
*Black above, yellow side stripe and light yellow green below
*
# ''The flight season refers to the one in the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles (O ...
. This may vary in other parts of the range.''
Larvae can be found feeding on plant leaves during the night. They are typically located on the underside of the leaves of the host plant close to the ground. Larvae are
gregarious
Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies.
Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother w ...
feeders in their initial stages. In the fourth instar, the larvae may disperse to the other areas of the original host plant and may migrate to other host plants. When forming into pupae, the larvae will burrow into the soil where they will remain until they emerge as adults.
Pupae
The pupae are brown and glossy. Pupae can develop once or twice during the year, with pupation typically taking place over winter. Pupae develop within cocoons that are found in the soil. The pupae are generally 20 mm long.
The pupae can be found in the ground anywhere from 2–10 mm deep into the soil.
Adults
Adult moths emerge from the pupae in soil during the months of May and June. Their appearance is similar to many moths within the same family; they are gray, black, green, or brown with delicate patterning of lines and spots across the entire adult body. The forewings tend to be darker than the hindwings in color. Characteristic markings of the species include a kidney shaped spot enclosed in a white border on the forewing of the adult. There is also a thin white border that goes around the entirety of the forewing. The wingspan ranges between 34–50 mm. Adult wingspan and body size are correlated with the nutritive status of the developing moth. Curved dorsal spurs located on the tibia of the forelegs distinguish this species from others very similar to it.
Adult behavior
Adults emerge from the end of April through the beginning of June. Shortly after emerging, the adult moths mate, as discussed in more detail in the mating section. The moth is most active at night, when it flies between plants and feeds. During the day, the adult moth seeks cover under the foliage of surrounding plants.
Mating
Mating in ''M. brassicae'' occurs among recently emerged adult moths. In one controlled observation, adults began mating the first night of emergence. In this observation, mating behavior started at ten in the evening, with most mating activity occurring after midnight. Mating pairs remained associated for upwards of twelve hours, with females covering male wings with the posterior of their body during this time.
The pattern of mating is as follows:
Calling position
The females initiated the mating sequence. She does so by calling for the male which entails positioning her
antennae forward, raising her wings horizontally, and flapping her wings quickly. If there is no male response to this call, the female relocates and repeats the calling behavior until she is able to successfully attract a male mate.
Reaction of the male
Upon hearing the call of the female, the male similarly points his antennae forward and begins to flap his wings rapidly. Then, the male takes off in flight to search for the calling female.
Approach of male
When the male locates the calling female, he approaches her and touches his antennae to her body as the first point of contact. This allows the male to confirm the identity of the calling female as belonging to the same species as itself. The male then moves towards the female and begins to flap its wings aggressively again. It then positions its abdomen towards the female's and opens his claspers to begin copulation.
Copulation
The female continues the calling as the male copulates with the female. The male must position his abdomen under the wing of the female during copulation. After copulation, the female will continue to mate. On average, a female will copulate 2.5 times.
Oviposition
The female moth lays eggs singly, but clusters many of them onto the same surface. A female may group upwards of 350 eggs together on the underside of a leaf. Females lay around 2500 eggs after copulation. Eggs are generally laid from May to June, but there is variation between populations of the moth. The eggs hatch within five to twelve days. The incubation period is highly dependent on environmental factors, mainly temperature. The incubation ranges from six days at 25 °C to 12 days at lower temperatures.
Oviposition behavior has been studied comparing three different host plants: cabbage, tomatoes, and
chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...
s. Females landed most often on tomato plants, but spent the most time on cabbage plants. Further, females were able to lay eggs more rapidly on cabbage plants and spent more time dragging their ovipositors on the leaves of the tomatoes before depositing their eggs. While the significance of these findings may not be fully understood, it demonstrates a keenness towards cabbage plants as preferred hosts for oviposition and that females must gauge host plant quality before depositing eggs on a given leaf. Preferences for plant species is also demonstrated, since few eggs were laid on chrysanthemums.
Another study was conducted to understand the influence of host plant damage on the host-finding behavior of female moths. Surprisingly, female moths of this species tend to preferentially select for damaged host plants for oviposition. This finding is rather surprising given that it would be expected that females would select for undamaged plants to help her offspring avoid resource competition with whatever species had already fed on the plant. However, researchers hypothesize that this may be due to the release of volatiles, to which females are attracted.
Migration
A study of ''M. brassicae'' in East Asia demonstrated that the species is migratory. Researchers found that annual migration across a 40–60 km strait. Data also indicates that females migrate more than males, with a significantly higher proportion of captures being female compared to the population sex ratio during the months of May to September. Coupled with the finding that these migratory females had high ovarian development and mating rate during this time, researchers concluded that this migration promoted female sexual maturation prior to mating. This would allow females to mate and oviposit in their newly arrived upon territories.
As a pest
The caterpillars are particularly damaging from the first to the fourth instars. During the first three instars, the larvae feed gregariously and may skeletonize the leaves upon with they were laid and migrate to. During the fourth instar, the larvae tend to burrow into the core of many fruits, vegetables, and plants rendering them unfit to sell commercially. Further, larvae leave waste excrements on the leaves of their chosen host plants which may devalue the plant even more by transmitting
fungal and
bacterial infection
Pathogenic bacteria are bacteria that can cause disease. This article focuses on the bacteria that are pathogenic to humans. Most species of bacteria are harmless and are often beneficial but others can cause infectious diseases. The number of th ...
to the plant. Because of the irreparable damage to their host plants, these moths are treated largely as pests and species control practices are undertaken by those within the agricultural industry.
While there are limited means of chemically controlling the species, one method of population reduction has been the use of wasp species that
parasitize
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...
the eggs of the cabbage moth. Various wasp species are known to parasitize cabbage moths at different stages of its life cycle, from egg to pupa. Controlled introduction of wasp species to fields has been able to effectively increase the rate of parasitism from just 15% to 93%, significantly reducing the population of cabbage moths in the field.
Food resources
Here is a list of the known and recorded food plants for ''Mamestra brassicae'':
*''Allium'' – onion
*''Aquilegia'' –
columbine
*''Beta'' –
beet
*''
Brassica
''Brassica'' () is a genus of plants in the cabbage and mustard family (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus are informally known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, or mustard plants. Crops from this genus are sometimes called ''cole ...
''
*''Bryonia'' –
bryony
''Bryonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the gourd family. Bryony is its best-known common name. They are native to western Eurasia and adjacent regions, such as North Africa, the Canary Islands and South Asia.
Description and ecology
B ...
*''Calendula'' –
marigold
Marigold may refer to:
* Marigold (color), a yellow-orange color
It may also refer to:
Plants
* In the genus ''Calendula'':
** Common marigold, '' Calendula officinalis'' (also called pot marigold, ruddles, or Scotch marigold)
* In the genus ' ...
*''Cannabis'' –
marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in variou ...
*''
Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...
''
*''
Cucurbita
''Cucurbita'' (Latin for gourd) is a genus of herbaceous fruits in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae (also known as ''cucurbits'' or ''cucurbi''), native to the Andes and Mesoamerica. Five edible species are grown and consumed for their flesh and ...
''
*''Dianthus'' –
carnation
''Dianthus caryophyllus'' (), commonly known as the carnation or clove pink, is a species of ''Dianthus''. It is likely native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years.Med ...
*''Helianthus'' –
sunflower
*''Hyoscyamus'' –
henbane
*''Hyssopus'' –
hyssop
*''Lactuca'' – lettuce
*''Linum'' –
flax
Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known i ...
*''Lychnis'' –
Maltese cross
The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically.
It is a heraldic cross variant which develop ...
*''Lycopersicon'' – tomato
*''
Malus
''Malus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 30–55 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including the domesticated orchard apple, crab apples, wild apples, and rainberries.
The genus is native to the temperate zo ...
'' – apple
*''Nicotiana'' –
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ch ...
*''
Pisum'' – pea
*''
Plantago
''Plantago'' is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a ...
'' – plantain
*''Raphanus'' –
radish
The radish ('' Raphanus raphanistrum'' subsp. ''sativus'') is an edible root vegetable of the family Brassicaceae that was domesticated in Asia prior to Roman times.
Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, being mostly eaten ra ...
*''Rheum'' –
rhubarb
Rhubarb is the fleshy, edible stalks ( petioles) of species and hybrids (culinary rhubarb) of '' Rheum'' in the family Polygonaceae, which are cooked and used for food. The whole plant – a herbaceous perennial growing from short, thick r ...
*''
Rudbeckia
''Rudbeckia'' () is a plant genus in the Asteraceae or composite family. Rudbeckia flowers feature a prominent, raised central disc in black, brown shades of green, and in-between tones, giving rise to their familiar common names of coneflowers a ...
''
*''
Rumex
The docks and sorrels, genus ''Rumex'', are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae.
Members of this genus are very common perennial herbs with a native almost worldwide dist ...
''
*''
Silene
''Silene'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. Containing nearly 900 species, it is the largest genus in the family. Common names include campion and catchfly. Many ''Silene'' species are widely distributed, particularl ...
''
*''Solanum'' – potato
*''Spinacia'' –
spinach
Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed eith ...
See Robinson, G. S. et al.
References
Citations
*
Chinery, Michael ''Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe'' 1986 (Reprinted 1991)
*
Skinner, Bernard ''
The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles'' 1984
External links
*
* Taxonomy
''Lepiforum e.V.''''De Vlinderstichting''
*https://www.mothidentification.com/cabbage-moth.htm
{{Taxonbar , from=Q1045638
Mamestra
Moths described in 1758
Agricultural pest insects
Moths of Asia
Moths of Europe
Moths of Japan
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus