Survey for Winter Moth (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in Northeastern North America with Pheromone-Baited Traps and Hybridization with the Native Bruce Spanworm (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)

ABSTRACT We used pheromone-baited traps to survey the distribution of winter moth, Operophtera brumata (L.) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), a new invasive defoliator from Europe in eastern New England. The traps also attracted Bruce spanworm, Operophtera bruceata (Hulst) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), native to North America. We distinguished between the two species by examining male genitalia and sequencing the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene, the DNA barcoding region. In 2005, we recovered winter moths at sites stretching from eastern Long Island, southeastern Connecticut, all of Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, coastal New Hampshire, and southern coastal Maine. At sites further west and north we captured only Bruce spanworm. In 2006, we confirmed that both winter moth and Bruce spanworm are present in Nova Scotia and in coastal Maine, but only Bruce spanworm was recovered in coastal New Brunswick, Canada; Pennsylvania; Vermont; or Quebec City, Canada. In 2007, we collected Bruce span...