Gypsy Moth Lure

Latin Name:  Lymantria dispar

Lure: Gray Rubber Septum

Lure Active Ingredient: cis-7,8-Epoxy-2-methyloctadecane

Field Life: 60 days

Trap to Use: Red Paper or Plastic Delta Trap, Gypsy Moth Trap (save money and make your own)

Monitoring Strategy: Use two traps per square mile in urban areas and rural residential areas of 300 or more homes per square mile. Use at least one trap in each high-hazard site. High-hazard sites include campgrounds, recreational areas, mobile home and RV parks, state parks, federal parks and monuments. Contact your local forester for more information on forest management practices.

Cultural and Physical Control: High-risk forests can be harvested before outbreaks occur to prevent some economic loss. Thinning stands of medium to high quality can reduce the risk of major outbreak. Thinning to reduce the proportion of primary gypsy moth hosts can also reduce the frequency and intensity of defoliation. After defoliation has occurred, salvage logging can be carried out within 6 to 12 months of tree death to prevent complete economic loss and to advance regeneration.

Distribution: The Asian gypsy moth is native to southern Europe, northern Africa, central and southern Asia, and Japan. Introduced into Canada and the United States.

Hosts: More than 500 host plants. Some of the most important include oak, cherry, white birch, maple, alder, willow, elm and trembling aspen.

Description: Adult moth: Brown with darker brown patterns on wings (males), with a wingspan of 37-50 mm. Females are nearly white and slightly larger.

Larvae: Highly distinctive with two rows of large spots along the back usually arranged in five pairs of blue and six pairs of red from head to rear, about 2-3 mm long.

Eggs: Eggs are laid in a manila tear-drop shaped egg mass, 25-50 mm long containing 600-1000 eggs.

Life Cycle: Larvae hatch in the spring. Male gypsy moth caterpillars go through five instars, while females go through six. Gypsy moths then move into pupation by transforming into a cocoon and spinning a thin web of silk around themselves. Upon completion of pupation, the gypsy moth splits the cocoon to emerge. The male emerges first, several days prior to emergence of the female. The female of the European gypsy moth is flightless. Once the female emerges, she is sexually mature, and almost immediately begins releasing sex pheromone to attract male moths.