• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.481-496
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• 2022

In order to establish an effective pest control strategy, we investigated the occurrence of lepidopteran insects in the major trees growing in urban forests from 2019 to 2021. In total, we recorded 76 species of 14 families in Prunus spp., 40 species of eight families in Acer spp., 43 species of 10 families in Zelkova serrata, 28 species of seven families in Rhododendron spp., and 10 species of four families in Hibiscus syriacus. Among these, Hyphantria cunea and Lymantria dispar were recorded from all five tree taxa monitored. The most frequently occurring species in the different tree groups were as follows: H. cunea and Phalera flavescens in Prunus yedoensis, Epinotia ulmicola in Z. serrata, and Rehimena surusalis in H. syriacus. H. cunea also occurred in Rhododendron spp. and Acer spp., although the numbers were lower than those recorded in Prunus spp. and Z. serrata. Our results highlight the importance of focusing on the frequency of occurrence of lepidopteran insects in Prunus spp. and Z. serrata, whereas the presence of these insects in both Acer spp. and Rhododendron spp. Appears to be less problematic. From the perspective of reducing the risks to human health, our findings indicate that the application of pheromones for monitoring lepidopteran species and the use of mating disruptors would be desirable approaches that would contribute to minimizing the spraying of pesticides in urban forests.