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Cook County has gypsy moths. Or used to. Now we have spongy moths, or, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) the moths will now be called by their Latin name Lymantria dispar. It’s a temporary name change, says the DNR.
Why the name change?
The Minnesota DNR is following the lead of the Entomological Society of America (EAS) who discontinued the use of the name “gypsy moth” because it contains a derogatory term for Romani people of northern India. To come up with a new name for the pests the EAS evaluated more than 200 nominations sent by more than 50 scientists.
From the long list of submissions, the EAS winnowed them down to seven. The final seven names were then released for comment. All told, the EAS received more than 1,000 ideas for new names from experts and organizations.
After careful consideration the EAS selected– drum roll please– spongy moth. What we once referred to as Gypsy moths will now be called spongy moths. Or if you work for the DNR, you will call them Lymantria dispar. At least for the time being.
The EAS said spongy moth was picked because the moths produce sponge-like egg masses.
Why do we care here in Cook County? Both Cook and Lake County are inundated with spongy moths.
Cook and Lake County were the first counties quarantined in the state, and Minnesota was the 21st state to completely or partially quarantine for spongy moths.
Every year people were hired to trap spongy moths and over the years the number of moths in certain areas in Lake and Cook County increased.
Results of the 2013 trapping survey showed that more than 71,258 moths were found to live in the state, with 62,243 of those trapped in Cook and Lake County. In 2009 trappers caught 27,000 moths across the whole state of Minnesota.
Once the quarantine was enacted, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) required loggers and designated lumber mill workers to take compliance agreement training and follow those guidelines or potentially face penalties.
The quarantine restricted the movement of pulp wood, firewood, trailers, and other items that might contain the spongy moths or their larvae.
It was Minnesota’s first quarantine ever, and it came after years of treating the pests with pesticides.
Future of the Spongy Moth Quarantine
Because of their destructiveness, throughout much of the country spongy moth caterpillars have harmed large areas of forests and caused millions of dollars of damage as they defoliate trees and plants. Brought in from Europe accidentally in 1868 or 1869 to Boston, spongy moths slowly spread. Because they are so numerous and have few predators, they move almost unimpeded, slowly munching their way across the country. Over the last 30 years millions of acres have been sprayed with pesticide to slow the spread of spongy moths. But still the moths are winning, advancing slowly as they forage on leaves.
Each caterpillar can eat about nine square feet of foliage and while the moths can be found in many parts of the Minnesota, they have established a stronghold in the Tip of the Arrowhead, despite attempts to slow their spread. In 2006 the state used aerial spraying in Cook County, spreading a biological insecticide and used a sex pheromone—a biological signaling chemical— that disrupts spongy moths breeding by confusing the males. However, despite repeated attempts, not enough male spongy moths were fooled by the spraying, and their spongy moth protégée live on, and so does the quarantine. And as Tina Hegg Raway, CFO/ Vice President of Finance for Hedstrom Lumber Company noted, as of last year the state stepped up the quarantine requirements quite a bit!
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