The emergence of adult corn earworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie), was observed throughout the night in corn plots between early and mid-August at Phoenix, Ariz., and early to late June at Brownsville, Tex. Emergence at both locations began between 2000 and 2200 hours, peaked between 2100 and 2300 hours, and ceased between 2400 and 0200 hours. Most emergence of each generation occurred in 10 d or less. Newly emerged adults moved to corn stubble where their wings were expanded and dried. They remained on the stubble for ca. 2.5 h before taking short flights of 30 m or less. Major flight activity was observed between 2400 and 0100 hours and near dawn. Males became sexually mature before females. Sex ratios were variable, with a higher ratio of females to males during the early phases of the emergence cycle. Some moths were observed feeding on exudates from corn stalks before their wings were expanded. Feeding activity intensified during overhead expansion of wings, and newly emerged moths with fully expanded wings fed extensively. Potential applications for this new knowledge are discussed.
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Lingren et al. (1988) studied this question.