The superfamily Noctuoidea Latreille, 1809 is the largest group within the order Lepidoptera. This big superfamily have been studied for a long time by numerous authors and literatures. However, these huge number of information make hard to study this important group. In this discussion, we hope to talk a simplified overview of significant literature on Korean noctuid moths, recent trends, and forecast for approaching them more easily.

Immunity is largely divided into innate immunity and adaptive immunity. We conducted a study using HongJam extract to confirm its innate immunity-enhancing effect. Our data using Natural Killer (NK) cells, which play an important role in innate immunity, confirmed that HongJam extract promotes the proliferation of NK cells and also enhances the function of NK cells to attack and destroy cancer cells. (Grant No. PJ017024022023)

Hongjam is a natural health food that has been shown to have various health-promoting effects, but studies on immunity enhancement have not been done so far. In this study, we investigated whether HongJam extracts could be enhancing innate immunity by protomoting proliferatin of macrophages and their phagocytic or pinocytic abilities to pathogens. (Grant No. PJ017024022023)

왕담배나방은 기주범위가 넓은 다식성으로 토마토, 옥수수, 담배, 해바라기, 땅콩, 면화, 콩 등 다양한 작물에 피해를 주는 해충이며, 장거리 이동성 해충으로도 유명하다. 본 연구에서는 기존 자료를 바탕으로 월동번데기의 성충으로 우화모델(2종)를 작성하고 포장 실측자료와 비교하여 평가하였다. 월동 번데기는 휴면을 종료한 후 안점소실 과정을 거쳐 정상의 번데기로 이행되고 비로소 성충으로 우화하는 것으로 가정하였다. 첫 번째 모형(모 형 1)은 2단계 휴면후발육 우화모형으로 안점소실에 필요한 적산온도 59.9DD (발육영점온도 15.9℃)와 번데기 발육완료에 필요한 192.3DD (발육영점온도 10.2℃)로 구성하였다. 두 번째 모형(모형 2)은 온도자극 우화모형으 로 17.63℃의 온도자극 이후에 번데기 발육을 개시하는 모형이었다. 적산온도는 단순 평균온도법과 사인곡선법 으로 계산하여 비교하였다. 포장자료와 비교 결과 모형 1에 사인곡선법을 적용했을 때 실측치와 편차가 3일보다 작거나 차이가 없었다. 반면 사인곡선법을 적용한 모형 2는 3~6.5일의 편차가 있었다. 평균온도법을 적용한 경우 두 모형 모두 실측치와 편차가 증가하였다. 모형을 활용하여 예측 우화시기와 트랩유살자료를 비교하여 왕담배 나방의 비래 가능성에 대하여 고찰하였다.

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is one of important agricultural pests that attack a wide range of fruits and vegetables. Adult female can cause direct damage by laying eggs under the skin of fruits and vegetables. The eggs hatch into larvae that feed in the decaying flesh of the agricultural crops. Damaged fruits and vegetables quickly become inedible or dropto the ground. We investigated the oviposition characteristics of B. dorsalis on twelve fruits and seven vegetables. B. dorsalis marked the oviposition places on every crop tested. B. dorsalis laid eggs into the fruits and vegetables except lemon and passionfruit. We examined the adult emergence from infested crops.

Sweet persimmons are valuable commodity in the export market. However, present of insect pest such as Asiacornococcus kaki can cause limit to many export markets. In this study, ethyl formate(EF), as alternative to methyl bromide(MB), was used in scale-up commercial trial(20ft reefer). Application of 50 g/m3 of EF for 6 hours at 5 ℃ showed proven efficacy against all developmental stages of A. kaki without LLDPE-packaging fruits and no phytotoxic damage on sweet persimmons. This study demonstrated that EF fumigation can be effectively control to target A. kaki before packaging with LLDPE-film of fruits.

As global warming and consumer’s preference for tropical/subtropical fruits increase, the number of orchards cultivating tropical/subtropical fruits in Korea is increasing. Accordingly, concerns about the introduction of exotic invasive pests that host tropical fruits. In this study, efficacy of ethyl formate(EF), as alternative to methyl bromide(MB), was evaluated. Commercial trial of EF was conducted in mango post-harvest storage conditions for controlling Scirtothrips dorsalis. Application of 10 g/m3 of EF for 4 hours at 10 ℃ showed proven efficacy on S. dorsalis without any phytotoxic damage on mango fruits in that condition.

Two new species, Stericta jaeshini Kim & Bae, sp. nov. and S. atroaurantiaca Kim & Bae, sp. nov. are described from Laos and Cambodia. About 50 species of the genus Stericta have been recorded from Southeast Asia, but it has not been recorded to occur in Laos and Cambodia previously. We record the presence of this genus in these two countries for the first time in this study. Illustrations of adults and genitalia of examined species are provided.

최근 기후변화, 국제교역량, 여행객 및 외국 이주민 증가 등으로 고위험 식물병해충의 유입이 증가하고 있으 며, 고위험해충에 대한 국내 유입여부를 상시 조사하여 외래식물해충을 발견하고 발생시 조기 대응하는 전문지 식과 경력을 갖춘 민간 전문가를 활용한 예찰시스템 구축의 필요성이 요구되고 있다. 침입우려 고위험 해충인 오리엔탈과실파리(Bactrocera dorsalis)는 광식성 해충으로 파프리카, 망고, 바나나, 감귤류 등 약 80종의 과실 농작물에 피해를 입히고 있으며, 해당 종의 국내정착 시 큰 경제적 피해를 입을 것으로 예상된다. 2023년 조기 방제 및 선제적 대응과 국내 확산 정착을 방지하기 위해 4개도(강원, 전북, 전남, 경남) 18개 시군 90개소에 유인트 랩(스테이너)을 설치하여 설치장소별 월 1회 정밀조사를 실시하였다. 트랩에 포획된 해충을 수거 후, 동정한 결과 오리엔탈과실파리는 발견되지 않았다.

Reticulitermes speratus (Kolbe) is economically important pest in East Asia including Korea, Japan and China where they infest wooden structures in urban areas. In this study, we report the first record of R. speratus speratus from Korea, which was verified using soldier morphology and molecular characteristics obtained from a mitochondrial gene. R. speratus speratus Kolbe, 1885 (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae) are found in several provinces, mainly southern regions in Korea, whereas R. speratus kyushuensis are distributed throughout the country. Our morphological comparison showed that R. speratus speratus can be distinguishable from R. speratus kyushuensis by the ratio of the posterior postmentum width to length. In the molecular comparison, R. speratus speratus revealed genetic differences of 3.06% (range 2.60–4.10%) from R. speratus kyushuensis using cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene sequences.

지난 2022년 제주도 애월읍 일대에서 콩 해충으로 알려진 콩은무늬밤나방(Ctenoplusia agnata) 성충이 검거세 미밤나방(Agrotis ipsilon)의 성페로몬 트랩에 대량으로 포획되었다. 검거세미밤나방 트랩은 목적 해충에 대한 포획 효율을 조사하기 위해 세 구성 성분, (Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate, (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate를 3:1 비율로 고정하고 (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate를 0, 1, 6, 10, 15로 각각 비율을 달리한 미끼를 사용하였다. 각 조성별 콩은무늬밤나방 성충 포획수를 비교한 결과, (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate가 첨가되지 않은 트랩에서 주당 평균 약 17.96마리로, 가장 많은 수의 개체가 포획된 것으로 확인되었다. 반면, (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate가 가장 많이 함유된 트랩에서 주당 평균 약 2.5마리로 가장 적은 개체가 포획된 것으로 파악되었다. 이에 (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate의 비율이 증가할 수록, 포획되는 콩은무늬밤나방의 개체 수가 감소되는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 검거세미밤나방 미끼의 주성분인 Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate는 기존의 콩은무늬밤나방 유인 성분 중 하나이기도 하여 해당 성분의 구성비가 유인에 영향을 미쳤다는 것을 예측할 수 있다. 추후에 해당 트랩들과 시판 중인 콩은무늬밤나방 성페로몬 트랩을 설치하 여 포획 양상을 비교할 필요성이 요구된다.

Due to the growing concern on the adverse effects on human and environment, more attention in the non-chemical pest control methods is gaining. One of the so-called ‘sustainable’ control practice is to physically freeze the insect and arthropod pests. Aerosol formulation uses propellant gas which is liquefied by pressure, and it lowers the temperature when sprayed by the volume expansion. Using this phenomenon, several ‘freeze spray’ products in South Korea and Japan are commercialized. Nonetheless, unlike other traditional aerosol insecticides, the lack of insecticidal substances in these freeze products allowed them to circumvent legal inspection and registration, no efficacy test result is required in commercialization. In the present study, we examined the insecticidal activity of the freeze spray products against German cockroaches and the housefly in the laboratory condition as well as semi-field tests. The temperature of discharged center mass was –40-45℃, but it had relatively small active range (about 3 cm) which required pinpoint application of the product. Moreover, at least 30 sec and 12 sec of direct contact at 30 cm was required to exhibit >90% of mortality in the cockroaches and houseflies in the lab-based tests, respectively. Semi-field tests indicated an average of 15.8 g and 22.0 g were required to spray to knock down the freely-moving cockroaches and houseflies, respectively. Further utility of the freezing products is discussed.

Immune priming is an increased immunity after prior exposure to a specific pathogen as a kind of adaptive immunity and occurs in insects. However, its underlying mechanism is elusive in insects. Immune priming was detected in a lepidopteran insect, Spodoptera exigua. Prior infection with a heat-killed pathogenic bacterium, Xenorhabdus hominickii, increased survival upon the second infection of the live bacteria compared to larvae without pre-exposure. Plasma collected from larvae with the prior infection significantly up-regulated cellular and humoral immune responses compared to the similar treatment without prior exposure. However, when the active plasma exhibiting immune priming was heat-treated, it lost the priming activity, suggesting a presence of protein factor(s) in the immune priming. Lipocalin is a lipid carrier protein and is well known in vertebrates for diverse physiological functions including immunity. An apolipoprotein D3 (ApoD3) is known to be a lipocalin functioning in immune priming in a mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. A homologous ApoD3 (Se-ApoD3) was identified in S. exigua. Se-ApoD3 was expressed in all developmental stages and larvae, it was highly expressed in hemocytes. RNA interference (RNAi) of Se-ApoD3 expression was performed by injecting its specific dsRNA. The larvae treated with the RNAi were impaired in cellular and humoral immune responses. Furthermore, the plasma collected from RNAi-treated larvae lost the immune priming even at the prior exposure. These suggest that Se-ApoD3 mediates the immune priming in S. exigua.

Family Nolidae has not much been treated as noticeable pest. In other countries, there are some pest species like Garella musculana (Erschoff, 1874), Uraba lugens Walker, 1866, and Earias insulana (Boisduval, 1833), but those are not reported in Korea. Recently, the occurrence of a nolid species, Meganola major (Hampson, 1894) has been increasing, especially in Jeollanam-do Prov. This species is mainly distributed in Indian subregion and Southeast Asia, but also East Asia reported, but until now, there are no outbreak information. Neverthereless, recent outbreak might be lead by global warming, and their growth stage. This seems to be evidence of the potential outbreak risk of nolid moths, but unfortunately, their ecology is not mostly well-studied. In this discussion, we are focusing on the potential outbreak of nolid moths in East Asiatic and Oriental regions.