Advances in research on biology, ecology and management of fruit-piercing moths

Abstract: Fruit-piercing moths (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) is a class of adult pests that suck fruit as a general term for the Noctuidae, widely distributing around the world. When the pests outbreak, they can cause huge economic losses to fruit growers. Therefore, there is a need to improve the understanding of fruit-piercing moths. In this paper, biology and ecology of fruit-piercing moths are reviewed from the aspects of the harmful habits, main species and occurrences, and the management of fruit-piercing moth is also reviewed from the aspects of agricultural and physical management, biological control and chemical management. Moreover, the new research direction was prospected against fruit-piercing moths. In terms of biology and ecology, the larvae usually feed on various types of weeds and are not harmful to fruits and adults use piercing-sucking mouthparts to suck ripe or ripening fruits, which is different from other Lepidoptera pests. According to the harmful habits and the characteristics of the mouthparts, they can be divided into primary piercers and secondary piercers, and primary piercers are developed, harder, and have appendages, which can pierce the intact peel and pose a great threat to production. Primary piercers are usually the dominant species in the orchard, which are the key management species. Secondary piercers are underdeveloped, softer, and have no special structure, which can only suck rotten fruits or continue to harm the wounds caused by primary piercers. So they are generally not regarded as a management target. The degree of hardness of the mouthparts of facultative piercers is between primary piercers and secondary piercers. Fruit- piercing moths are widely distributed in the world, and they prefer humid and warm areas. Adult pests rest during the day and fly into orchards at night. The chemotacticity is strong and sensitive to aroma and sweetness. After emergence, it sucks juice and flower dews to supplement nutrition and the scope of harm includes a variety of economic fruits, with particu-larly thin-skinned juicy and fragrant fruits more susceptible in the mountain or near-mountain orchards. In terms of management, fruit-piercing moths' chemical management is mainly based on pyrethroid insecticides, but the touch killing effect is limited and the use of chemical pesticides is strictly prohibited before the fruit ripening period, so it is necessary to have more efficient and green management, thereby reducing or even avoiding the use of chemical pesticides. Growers can use agricultural management to stagger the ripening period of fruit crops and the peak period of fruit-piercing moths, and at the same time growers should complete the harvest of fruits as soon as possible, or can also use other methods, such as eradication of larval hosts, planting trapping plants, bagging, laying nylon nets and so on, which have their own advantages and limitations. Although the luring effect of the black light is poor, the yellow light at about 580 nm has a good repellent effect on the fruit-piercing moths, and the yellow light is usually used to repel the fruit-piercing moth in production. Plant-derived repellents from Mucuna sempervirens Hemsl and Mosla chinensis Maxim, Azadirachtin and other vegetable oils have a repellent effect on fruit-piercing moths. Natural predators of fruit-piercing moths include Trichogrammatid, ichneumon, Mantodea etc., of which Trichogrammatid has been widely used in the management of Lepidoptera pests. Some sex pheromones of the fruit-piercing moths have been successfully isolated, identified, synthesized and applied in the field. However, there are still many types of sex pheromone components that have not been clarified, which have the value for further study. The broad- spectrum attractant of Lepidoptera pests represented by sweet and sour liquor cannot attract primary piercers, but usually attract a large number of secondary fruit piercers, which does not really solve the actual problem. Extracting ripe bananas, mangoes and peaches has a good application potential for the volatile aroma components of fruits with strong fruit attractant attraction effect. The different types of fruit- piercing moths have different occurrence period and epidemic pattern. Since the fruit-piercing moth species in fruits are also different from diverse regions, in the actual management process to clarify the main dominant species in the field and its occurrence pattern, the computer technology will be used for fruit-piercing moth intelligent and accurate identification and long-term monitoring and forecasting. The combination of different managements can be further studied in the future, for instance, the yellow LED lamp could be combined with other biogenic repellent. Plant volatiles have a certain effect on the synthesis, release and behavior regulation of moth pheromone, which has the potential to be combined with sex pheromone for managing fruit-piercing moths. We can choose appropriate managements, which are more economical, efficient and environment-friendly to control fruit-piercing moths.