Survival and development of six gypsy moth populations, Lymantria dispar L. (Lepidoptera: Erebidae), from different geographic areas on 16 North American hosts and artificial diet

Data describing the development and survival of gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar L. (Lepidoptera: Erebidae)) from all three subspecies on 13 North American conifers and 3 broad leaf hosts were collected (Keena and Richards 2020). Populations from the United States and Greece served as the Lymantria dispar dispar controls for comparison with the Asian strains from the L. d. asiatica (populations from China, Russia, and South Korea) and L. d. japonica (population from Japan) subspecies. The hosts compared were Acer rubrum, Betula populifolia, Quercus velutina, Pinus strobus, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Abies balsamea, Abies concolor, Larix occidentalis, Picea glauca, Picea pungens, Pinus ponderosa, Pinus taeda, Pinus palustris, Pinus rigida, Tsuga canadensis, and Juniperus virginiana.
Survival and developmental data (either to 14 day or to adult with reproductive traits also evaluated) are important for assessing whether there is variation between and/or within a subspecies in host utilization. Host utilization information is critical to managers for estimating the hosts at risk and potential geographic range for Asian gypsy moths from different geographic origins in North America. Since the lists of hosts that Asian gypsy moth is known to feed on in other countries is long and no broad evaluation of North American hosts has been done, without data like these it is difficult to evaluate how the hosts at risk in North America to the Asian and established gypsy moths may differ.
For more information about these data, see Keena and Richards (2020, https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11040260). These data were originally published on 04/17/2020. Minor metadata updates were made on 07/22/2022 and 04/25/2023.