UNAM warns of an epidemic devouring nopales, it’s a moth

The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) He pointed out that the production nopales in Mexico Highly vulnerable to epidemic mites, which would leave us without this product and would affect the 107 species of aloe vera native to the country.

According to JEnrique Fornoni Agnelli, a researcher at the Environment Institute at UNAM, the plague consists of the moth that devours the nopales, scientifically known as Cactoblastis cactorum, an invasive insect that comes from South America, specifically the Caribbean.

insect pest control

As mentioned by the researcher One, the home of the moth is South America but for years it began to migrate to other parts of the world, an act that man promoted because he sought Other pest control that affected the vegetation.

Thus it became a form of biological control. The moth that devours the nopales was moved from Argentina to Australia in the 1920s for the purpose of combating the Nopal pest; The strategy was successful and was repeated years later by taking some samples to areas South Africa and the Caribbean.

“Palomilla eats nopales” is located near Mexico

In this last migration they spread to countries like Puerto Rico, Cuba and even Florida in the United States. The process had already gotten out of hand, and then the cactus-eating moth had become a pest found in different parts of the world.

The life cycle of the cactus moth

Juan Enrique He explained that the nopal moth lives in different stages of development, the first of which is when it is in its larval stage, which is when it has the greatest impact on the nopal, because it lives during that period within the freckle freckle. nopales High consumption of fruit.

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Later, it moves into the pupal stage but already out of the nopal and then into the lactation stage where it finally turns into a moth and lays its eggs on the nopal spine. Then the cycle repeats itself.

Cactus moth in Mexico

And recently, researcher Fornoni issued a warning about his proximity to nopal . moth plague to Mexico; However, this is not the first time this has happened, as the first time it was discovered in our country was in 2007.

noMinister of Agriculture and Rural Development (SAGARPA) and the National Service for Health, Safety and Agri-Food Quality (Sinasica) The emergence of the plague was announced after Hurricane Stand in 2005 in the territory of southern Mexico, with the first report of the nopal moth on Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo.

Once again, it appears that an epidemic cactus moth It may be located in Mexico. The One She stated that the plague could take advantage of meteorological events to be transmitted to the land of the Aztecs, so an urgent call was made to monitor the activity of hurricanes and hurricanes.

The states that may be affected by the plague are those bordering the Gulf of Mexico such as Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo.

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