ABSTRACT
On a farm just outside Schaefferville, crop consultant Bill Emerine checks his pheromone traps on a weekly basis for common row crop pests—corn earworm, black cutworm, and European corn borer. This year, he has been asked by the state entomologist at the Missouri Department of Agriculture to scout for Silver Y moth (Autographa gamma [L.]), a highly polyphagous defoliator of many cultivated plants. Its accidental introduction to Missouri may pose concern in particular to soybean and cotton. There are no records of establishment in the United States; however, this species has been intercepted hundreds of times at the US ports of entry on imported vegetables such as garden pea (Pisum sativum), sugar beet (Beta vulgaris), and cabbage (Brassica oleracea). They can reduce crop yields by damaging leaves and are often considered to be a pest.
