CARABIDAE (COLEOPTERA) ASSOCIATED WITH GYPSY-MOTH, LYMANTRIA-DISPAR (L) (LEPIDOPTERA, LYMANTRIIDAE), POPULATIONS SUBJECTED TO BACILLUS-THURINGIENSIS BERLINER TREATMENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA

Carabid beetles were collected using pitfall traps and tree bands in forest stands in southwestern Pennsylvania subjected to defoliation by gypsy moth for the first time. Some of the stands were treated aerially with Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (B.t.). The guts of all carabids collected were tested for the presence of gypsy moth proteins using the ELISA technique. Twenty-seven of the 33 species (82%) collected from pitfall traps, and four of the seven species (57%) collected under tree bands, tested positive. Of the 1142 individuals from pitfall traps and 73 individuals from tree bands, the percentages positive were 45 and 38%, respectively. Calosoma frigidum Kirby had the highest percentage positive (78%) of any species. Statistically significant differences in percentages positive between B.t.-treated and untreated plots were found only for Pterostichus mutus Say and P. coracinus Newm., and when all species were combined. The presence of nucleopolyhedrosis virus in the gypsy moth population was unanticipated and may have influenced these results through increased feeding on carrion. © 1990, Entomological Society of Canada. All rights reserved.