Introduction
This publication presents a summary of the moths, butterflies,
and skippers (Lepidoptera) collected in Wayne County for more than
100 years. An enterprising entomologist by the name of Francis
Webster began collecting and preserving insects that he discovered
on the campus of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station (OAES)
in 1896. His collections and records eventually became the Insect
Reference Collection of the Department of Entomology at The Ohio
State University's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development
Center (OARDC), formerly the OAES.
Collections of insects made locally and records of insects sent
in for identification by Ohio residents were kept in
museum-fashion accession catalogs from 1896 to 1916 and were kept
in the museum housing the Insect Reference Collection. From 1902
to 1999, insects collected in Wayne and other Ohio counties have
been deposited in this collection by various employees of the
Department of Entomology. Some species collected in the early
years are now very rare or can no longer be found in the county.
A comprehensive survey of the Lepidoptera of Wayne County was
begun by Roy and Lorraine Rings in June 1997 and was continued
until August 1999. The results of the survey are represented
mostly by collection records in this publication, but some
unusual, uncommon, or rare species were deposited in the
collection.
From 1989 to 1999, Roger Downer collected butterflies and
skippers in the beautiful and diverse tree plantings in the
Secrest Arboretum at OARDC, and in 1996 he compiled a checklist of
the butterflies and skippers that he captured at the Wooster
Memorial (Spangler) Park. This was a subproject of a master plan,
headed by Stanley Watson, to improve the educational and
recreational value of the park for the Wooster community.
Classification and Biodiversity of the Lepidoptera
Scientifically, the Order Lepidoptera includes the moths,
butterflies, and skippers. This classification is based upon a
system of binomial nomenclature developed by Linnaeus, a Swedish
naturalist, nearly 300 years ago. This means that each species of
animal (including insects) has a two-part Latin name.
For example, Danaus plexippus is the Latin name for
the monarch butterfly. These scientific names are usually printed
in italics, or underlined, if italics are not available. The
species name is the basic unit of the classification system. This
and the other major components of classification for the monarch,
which may be thought of as a family tree, are:
Species: plexippus
Genus: Danaus
Family: Danaidae
Order: Lepidoptera
Class: Insecta
Phylum: Arthropoda
Kingdom: Animalia
A species comprises a population whose members can interbreed
freely under natural conditions (Wilson, 1992). Members of a
species usually resemble each other more than they do other
species. However, in the Lepidoptera, there are some species that
are exceptions to this rule, since the males and females have
strikingly different wing patterns. These are known biologically
as sexually dimorphic. In the Geometridae, seasonal forms are
somewhat different in appearance. Melanic individuals that are
much darker than the typical members of that species occur in
several families.
This classification system, besides identifying the different
units, expresses the phylogenetic relationships between the
various components. A genus is composed of one or more species,
which have certain similarities that show they evolved from
a common ancestor. This biological phenomenon is evident in the
moth genus Catocala (Noctuidae) in Wayne County, where we
have found 30 species. These species have fore wings that are
cryptically colored with brown, black, white, and gray markings
resembling the background tree trunk surface upon which they rest.
The hind wings are red, black, or orange with prominent black or
white bands. A few closely related species that superficially
resemble the Catocala are Allotria elonympha (Hübner)
and Euparthenos nubilis (Hübner), but the
differences are great enough to place them in separate genera.
Each species of Catocala varies only slightly from other
species in the genus, but they are all valid species since they
are not known to interbreed.
In turn, a family may be made up of one or more genera that
possess similar characters suggesting a common ancestral type that
lived farther back in time. The Order Lepidoptera includes many
families and includes individuals having four wings, which are
covered with overlapping scales forming intricate and beautiful
patterns. They also have a coiled proboscis for sucking liquids
and an immature larval stage, usually with five pairs of abdominal
prolegs, besides the three pairs of true, thoracic legs.
The Lepidoptera represent the great biodiversity of insects
that may be found in just one order of insects. In North America,
north of Mexico, there are more than 11,283 species of Lepidoptera,
and most of the species described occur in the United States
(Hodges, 1983). Covell (1984) points out that only 760 of these
species are butterflies or skippers, and the remainder of the
species are moths. The latter thus outnumber the former by 14 to
one. There may be more than 3,000 members of this order in Ohio
and an estimated 1,400 or 1,500 kinds in Wayne County.
Characteristics
of Wayne County Lepidoptera
The Lepidoptera inhabiting Wayne County consist of a dynamic
and diverse population of moths, butterflies, and skippers. We
have listed 901 species in the county, but several more years in
collecting efforts would undoubtedly result in the addition of
perhaps an additional 200 species. Another 300 or 400 species may
be present but consist of species that are rare or cannot be
identified because we cannot find systematic specialists who are
willing to identify them.
Over the last few hundred years, many species of moths have
been accidentally, or deliberately, introduced by humans and
augment the county's native species. Some more well-known species
are the gypsy moth, the European corn borer, the case-making
clothes moth, the webbing clothes moth, the large yellow underwing,
and the hop-vine borer.
Every year many species immigrate into Wayne County from
farther south but do not survive northeastern Ohio's winters. Some
of these migrants are checkered skipper, sachem, checkered white,
little sulfur, buckeye, variegated fritillary, common tan wave,
yellow scallop moth, cotton leafworm, black witch, Texas mocis,
orbed narrow wing, beet armyworm, fall armyworm, yellow-striped
armyworm, corn earworm, and tobacco budworm.
The monarch is both an immigrant and an emigrant
since it leaves the county in September but returns the following
spring. The Ohio populations of the monarch may be gradually
reduced by the destruction of its overwintering sites in Mexican
forests.
Importance of Lepidoptera
Economically
While most of the moth species in Wayne County are not normally
seen and are of no economic importance, many other species can
cause considerable crop losses or would inflict significant damage
if it were not for the application of preventive and corrective
control programs. One of the most important insect pests in Wayne County is the
variegated cutworm, Peridroma saucia (Hübner).
These cutworms have been serious pests of potatoes,
particularly near Smithville. In heavy infestations, 25 to
50 cutworms per plant have been recorded (Rings,
unpublished data). This pest has also damaged greenhouse
flowers and tomatoes, commercial vegetable plantings, and
home gardens throughout the country. The armyworm, Pseudaletia
unipuncta (Haworth), has occurred in outbreak
proportions in various parts of the county on wheat and
other cereal crops for more than 100 years.
The European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis
(Haworth), is quite familiar to producers of dent corn and
sweet corn, while the homemaker is more familiar with the
corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), that is
removed with disgust from the ears of sweet corn. Local
fruit growers wage a constant battle against the codling
moth, the red-banded leaf roller, the lesser peach tree
borer, the grape berry moth, and many other kinds of
Lepidoptera.
More recently, the county has been invaded by a very
destructive introduced forest and shade-tree pest — the
infamous gypsy moth. The full impact of this controversial
pest will not be felt by the average home owner for
perhaps 10 years when his or her beloved shade trees are
stripped of every leaf.
The home gardener soon learns that many lepidopterous
species compete for his/her hard-earned produce. The
cabbage looper, imported cabbage worm, cutworms, garden
webworm, armyworms, European corn borer, melon worm, and
squash vine borer eat the home gardener's cabbages, sweet
corn, peppers, tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers. Trees may
be defoliated by spring and fall cankerworms or eastern
tent caterpillars, and their limbs killed by the maple
callus borer.
In the privacy of the home, the homemaker has been, and is,
confronted with an endless array of damaging household pests
including carpet moths, case-making clothes moths, webbing clothes
moths, Indian meal moths, Mediterranean meal moths, and Angoumois
grain moths. Because of the adaptability in larval behavior,
almost any species of caterpillar can become an important pest if
environmental conditions are in its favor. One example is the case
of the spotted-sided cutworm, which underwent a population
explosion in an apple orchard in 1967 in Senecaville, Ohio, and
caused considerable injury to the fruit and leaf buds. The species
had no previous history as a pest of any crop grown in the United
States.
Biologically
Lepidoptera may be considered from a biological standpoint that
most people do not usually consider or fully understand. The
tremendous biomass of Lepidoptera, composed of billions of eggs,
caterpillars, pupae, and adults, is an important link in the
natural food chain and sustains the lives of millions of
insectivorous birds, mammals, and reptiles.
Aesthetically
The aesthetic value of our native butterflies and moths is
difficult to measure, but there is an increasing awareness of the
beauty of nature and the conservation of these natural resources.
The hobbies of butterfly gardening and insect photography are
attracting many more Ohioans and are gradually replacing the
collection and the display of a dwindling number of diverse
species.
A great impetus to the public interest in Lepidoptera in Ohio
has been the formation of The Ohio Lepidopterists in 1979.
The goals of this organization are to promote interest in, provide
information on, and increase our knowledge of butterflies,
skippers, and moths in Ohio and neighboring states.
Through a coordinated effort of this organization, in
cooperation with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, a
six-year comprehensive survey of the Lepidoptera of Ohio was
initiated in 1985. Important results of the survey to date are
reported in several publications and reports such as Butterflies
and Skippers of Ohio by David C. Iftner et al.,
1992; The Owlet Moths of Ohio by Roy W. Rings et
al., 1992; and The Lepidoptera of Portage County, Ohio
by Roy W. Rings and Eric H. Metzler. A number of other
publications are in the planning stage, including The
Geometridae of Ohio and A Checklist of Ohio Lepidoptera.
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