Natural History of the Pine Processionary Moth,Thaumetopoea pityocampa

International audienc

Natural History of the Pine Processionary Moth,Thaumetopoea pityocampa

International audienc

Natural history of the Processionary Moths (Thaumetopoea spp.): New insights in relation to climate change

La partie est intégrée dans le Chapter 2: Natural history of the Processionary Moths (Thaumetopoea spp.): New insights in relation to climate changeInternational audienceIt is difficult to find a genus of Lepidoptera showing the high variability of life history traits observed in Thaumetopoea. There are typical summer feeding close to winter feeding species, and in one special case a recent switch has been detected even within one species, the pine processionary moth, indicating that the natural history traits are constantly evolving at a fast rate. There are species adapted to cold conditions of high mountains and high latitude close to truly Mediterranean and sub-desert region species. All species have gregarious behaviour as larva and are protected against vertebrate predators by urticating setae

Climate Warming and Past and Present Distribution of the Processionary Moths (Thaumetopoea spp.) in Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa

International audiencePine processionary moth, Thaumetopea pityocampa, is a model insect indicator of global warming, the northwards and upwards range expansion of this Mediterranean species being directly associated with the recent warming up. The knowledge about the drivers of moth expansion is synthesized. A first standardized mapping of the northern expansion edge, from Western Europe to Turkey, is presented, then detailed for 20 countries of Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa, including future trends. Additional data about the responses of the other Thaumetopoea species are given. Finally, the chapter points out the importance of the man-mediated introductions in the expansion process