Modern control rests on mating disruption: the air is saturated with synthetic female pheromone and the males cannot find her, a technique that has hugely cut insecticide use in fruit growing.
From Codling Moth
It is also fought with a granulosis virus specific to the species, harmless to any other organism.
From Codling Moth
The exit hole and the damp frass on the surface of the fruit are the sign that the larva has already left: by the time the hole shows, the apple has been occupied for some while.
From Codling Moth
A defoliating pest that can strip whole forests bare; the European females can barely fly.
From Gypsy Moth
It reached North America by accident: in 1869 Étienne Léopold Trouvelot imported eggs to Medford, Massachusetts, to try crossing it with the silkworm and obtain a disease-resistant caterpillar. They escaped from his garden.
From Gypsy Moth
He warned the local entomologists and nothing was done; twelve years later the population exploded and the first government insect eradication campaign in history was launched, and failed.
From Gypsy Moth
Its larvae can break down polyethylene plastic, which is being investigated as a way to tackle pollution.
From Wax Moth
It has become a widely used laboratory model for studying infections and testing antibiotics, because its innate immune response resembles that of vertebrates and allows the use of mice to be reduced.
From Wax Moth

Ecosystems