Sunflower Moth

(Homoeosoma nebulellum), a moth of the family Pyralidae, a dangerous pest to the sunflower; also harmful to the safflower and aster. The wingspread is 20 to 27 mm. The front wings are yellowish gray, with a light front edge and two dark streaks, and the back wings are translucent. The caterpillars reach 15 mm in length and are yellowish green with three stripes.

Sunflower moths are found throughout Eurasia, except in the north; in the USSR, they are distributed everywhere except the taiga. The moths emerge when the sunflower begins to bloom; they fly at dusk, feeding on nectar from flowers of Compositae plants. The eggs are laid singly on the inner walls of the anther rings and of the corolla, and sometimes on the tubular and ligulate flowers of composites; 200 to 300 eggs are laid. The caterpillars of the first two stages feed on pollen and parts of flowers; those after the third stage feed on kernels of achene, often consuming them completely, and on the edges of the an-thodium’s involucre and the flesh of its stem, weaving the damaged parts with cobweb. The anthodia take on a dirty appearance, and during rainy weather they rot. The harvest of sunflowers is sharply decreased. The sunflower moth is controlled by planting resistant, armored varieties of sunflowers.