Department of Agricultural Entomology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai-625 104, Tamil Nadu (India).
Hourly attraction of moths of groundnut leafminer, Aproaerema modicella Deventer, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. to mercury light trap (220 w) was recorded between 30.VI.90 and 15.VIII.91 at the Regional Research Station, Vridhachalam. Moth attraction was significantly high (4434 and 3499 nos.) during the first fortnight of November 1990 (4 peak catches) and second fortnight of March 1991 (6 peak catches), respectively. Moth catches were equally good when the light trap was operated between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. and poor between 5 and 6 a.m. Hourly moth catches indicated that female outnumbered the male (1:1.2) between 6 and 9 p.m., and 9 p.m. and 12 a.m.; and equal sex ratio (1:1) between 12 and 3 a.m., and 3 and 6 a.m. Among the females caught, population of gravid females was higher than the spent females and the percentage range of gravid females-total females was 69 to 76, 65 to 73, 54 to 60 and 45 to 54 per cent during the different periods of attraction, viz, 6 to 9 p.m., 9 p.m. to 12 am., 12 to 3 am., and 3 to 6 am., respectively. Yellow, blue and green coloured light traps were effective in trapping the moths which collectively attracted 66.25 per cent (21,273 nos.) of the total moth collections.
