Are moths beneficial insects or pests? You'll understand after reading this
The moth is a general term for insects closely related to butterflies; both belong to the order Lepidoptera. When at rest, most spread their wings flat on either side of the body, and the wings bear eye-like markings that can deter enemies. They are mostly active at night and like to gather in bright places, hence the folk saying “the moth flies into the flame and burns itself.” Now let's take a look at whether moths are beneficial insects or pests!
Are moths beneficial insects or pests?
Moths are pests. Moth larvae have chewing mouthparts and feed on plant leaves, making them important pests of agricultural and forestry crops, fruit trees, tea, vegetables, flowers and more. Adults cannot chew food; instead they suck tree sap, nectar and the like through a long, straw-like mouthpart. Some species also form cases or spin silk webs. Some bore into plant tissues to cause damage, mining the leaf mesophyll or boring into stems. Some invade and bore into buds, flowers, seeds and other tissues, and can sometimes cause galls. Larvae that live in the soil bite and feed on plant roots, becoming important underground pests. Species that damage stored grain, goods or hides are important warehouse pests. A few species are predatory, preying on aphids or scale insects and the like; for example, the Spalgis epius is a natural enemy of the sugarcane woolly aphid.
Why do moths fly into flames?
When moths fly and move about at night, they rely on moonlight to determine direction, always keeping the moonlight entering their eyes from one direction. After evading a predator's chase or turning to go around an obstacle, they need only turn once more, and the moonlight will still come from the original direction, so they find their direction again. This is a kind of “celestial navigation.” When a moth sees a lamp, it mistakenly takes it for “moonlight,” and so also uses this fake “moonlight” to judge direction. The moon is very far from the earth, so a moth need only keep a fixed angle to the moon to fly in a certain direction. But a lamp is very close to the moth, and by instinct the moth still keeps a fixed angle to the light source, so it can only circle around the lamp until it finally exhausts itself and dies.
The life cycle of a moth
1. Egg stage: The time from when an egg is laid to when it hatches is called the egg stage. After a moth's egg is fertilized, the embryo inside the egg begins to develop, and when the egg matures it becomes a larva.
2. Larva: The larva is the stage from hatching from the egg to the larva pupating, and it is the fastest-growing stage; some species increase their body weight by ten thousand times from hatching until they are fully grown and ready to pupate.
3. Pupal stage: The pupal stage is the phase in which an insect transitions from larva to adult. After the larva is fully grown, its body shortens, it does not eat or move, and its outer surface gradually thickens as it pupates.
4. Adult: The adult is the final stage of moth development; it is sexually mature and able to mate and lay eggs, but some adults must feed supplementarily before mating and laying eggs.