UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 1088 ^ 



Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER July, 1922 



ZYGOBOTHRIA NIDICOLA, AN IMPORTANT PARA- 

 SITE OF THE BROWN-TAIL MOTH. 



fey C. F. W. Mtjesebeck, 1 Scientific Assistant, Gipsy Moth and Broicn-ta.il Moth 

 Investigations, Bureau of Entomology. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



Distribution in the United States 2 



Life cvcle of the brown-tail moth 2 



Page. 

 Life history and biology of the para- 

 site . 2 



Economic importance of the parasite. • 8 



INTRODUCTION. 



One of the most effective factors in the control of the brown-tail 

 moth (Euproctis chrysorrhoea L.) in the United States is the 

 introduced tachinid fly Zygobothria nidicola Townsend. Strangely 

 enough this European parasite had not been described at the time 

 it was first obtained in this country. The first adults were reared 

 at the Gipsy Moth Laboratory, then located at North Saugus, Mass., 

 in the summer of 1906, from brown-tail moth caterpillars that had 

 been received from Europe during the preceding winter. The speci- 

 mens were referred to Mr. C. H. T. Townsend, of the Bureau of 

 Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, for identi- 

 fication. After some correspondence with European authorities, to 

 whom also specimens were submitted for examination, Mr. Town- 

 send concluded that the species was new, and subsequently described 

 it under the name Zygobothria nidicola? 



Much difficulty was experienced in rearing adults of the parasite 

 for colonization from imported brown-tail moth larvae. This was 

 due to the great mortality among the caterpillars, particularly from 



1 Special acknowledgments are due Mr. A. F. Burgess, in charge of Gipsy Moth and 

 Brown-tail Moth Investigations, for helpful criticism of this bulletin, and Messrs. S. S. 

 Crossman and R. T. Webber, of the Gipsy Moth Laboratory,, Melrose Highlands, Mass., 

 for many suggestions -during the prosecution of the work. 



■ Townsend, Charles H. T. The taxonomy of the muscoidean flies, including 

 descriptions of new genera and species. In Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 

 v. 51, p. 99-101. 1908. 

 104616—22 1 



