page_title: Agonopterix alstroemeriana
section_title: Biological control limitations
hierarchical_section_title: Agonopterix alstroemeriana / Biological control usage / Biological control limitations
caption_attribution_description: English: Conium maculatum in Geneva Botanical garden.This photograph was taken with a Sony ILCE-5000
context_page_description: The hemlock moth, also known as the defoliating hemlock moth or poison hemlock moth, is a nocturnal moth species of the family Depressariidae. Of Palaearctic origin, it was first found in North America in 1973 when it was accidentally introduced. The moth is now widespread throughout the northern half of the United States, southern Canada, northern Europe, and, more recently, New Zealand. The larval form grows to around 10 mm, while the adults wingspan is between 17 mm and 19 mm.
  It is best known for its use in biological control of the lethally toxic poison hemlock, which is eaten by its caterpillars. The toxicity of its host plant may actually benefit the caterpillar because it helps females recognize locations for oviposition. This species also uses the leaves of its host plant to form protective tubes around the caterpillar.
context_section_description: The use of A. alstroemeriana as a biological control method has been limited by the scarcity of information on its life history and feeding habits and the ability to harvest the larvae only in early to mid-spring.
  Due to C. maculatum’s ability to serve as a stock for a variety of plant diseases, and to overrun fields growing cattle feed, it has been implicated in killing multiple species of plants. Poison hemlock commonly overruns fields growing feed for livestock, which creates the possibility of killing the animals (through hay contamination). Therefore, agriculturalists have made it a priority to address the widespread nature of poison hemlock.
  The number of eggs that A. alstroemeriana lays is known to be associated with the dry weight of the leaf. However, oviposition was not correlated positively with the concentration of alkaloids in the poison hemlock, which varies widely among individual plants. Therefore, it is difficult to predict whether increased alkaloids in the plant would increase or decrease the use of the hemlock moth as a biological control.
caption: Leaves of Conium maculatum, the hostplant of A. alstroemeriana
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "5456", "Image ImageLength": "3632", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "ILCE-5000", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2015:08:19 22:23:24", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 3, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "400", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1242", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10458", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:08:16 10:04:01", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:08:16 10:04:01", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1245723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "361471/100000", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "7337/1280", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "463/128", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "16", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2712", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2672", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1116", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "24", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[16, 50, 7/2, 28/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS"}